Students, parents react to California's transgender high school sports controversy
CIF changes competition rules over trans athlete
California is changing competition rules days before the state track and field championships, in response to a transgender girl from Jurupa Valley who will be competing.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday posted a message to Truth Social ordering California law enforcement, if necessary, to not allow a transgender high school athlete to compete for a state title later this week.
Jurupa Valley High School junior AB Hernandez won first place in the recent qualifying meets for the triple jump and long jump events. Later this week, the transgender student-athlete, Hernandez, is expected to compete for a state championship.
"God made him a boy," said one parent at Jurupa Valley High School. "He should be competing with the boys, not the girls."
"She deserves to just live her life how she wants to live it," said Angelina Carreon, a classmate.
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Students and parents who spoke with FOX 11 were split on the issue.
"If you identify as a female, you should be able to just play a sport and be comfortable," said Olivia Vlach, another classmate.
In Newsom’s podcast in March, he discussed AB Hernandez with Charlie Kirk. Newsom said the issue is about "fairness."
"Newsom has said it’s unfair, but he knows what he’s doing," said Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley School Board. "He’s playing the game. He has no intent of protecting our daughters."
According to Shaw, she has been trying to get President Trump to intervene.
"Common sense needs to be common again," said Shaw. "This is a commonsense issue."
In a lengthy Truth Social post Tuesday, President Trump ordered local authorities in California to "if necessary," not allow the trans-athlete to compete this week. Otherwise, "large scale funding will be held back."
"I say pull the funding," said Shaw. "It’s going to send a message. It’s going to put some teeth into what’s going on."
On Tuesday, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) announced a new "pilot entry process" where "any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet, was extended an opportunity to participate in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships."
A spokesperson from California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office tells FOX 11 the CIF pilot process "is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness."
FOX 11 swapped messages with Hernandez’s family Tuesday, but they didn’t want to speak with FOX.