Trans high school athlete wins two events at California finals in shadow of protests, Trump funding threats

Clovis California CNN The transgender high school athlete whose participation in this weekend s California track and field championships prompted President Donald Trump to threaten to remove state funding reached the podium in all three of her events Saturday A B Hernandez a inhabitants high school junior in Southern California took first place in the high jump and the triple jump and finished in second place in the long jump in the finals Following criticism from specific in the district who disclosed A B s participation prevented lower-ranked competitors from advancing to the championships this weekend the high school sports governing body allowed more cisgender girls whose gender identity conforms with their sex assigned at birth to compete The California Interscholastic Federation also disclosed if a transgender athlete earned medals in an event their ranking wouldn t prevent a biological female from medaling as well the Associated Press published That means A B shared her top spot with two co-winners in the high jump and one co-winner in the triple jump As A B was warming up for her first field event Saturday protesters outside the stadium used a megaphone to yell no boys in girl sports multiple times until the populace address announcer interrupted the meet and demanded respect for the athletes The meet resumed shortly after She placed first in long jump high jump and triple jump in the preliminary round Friday as a group protested her ability to compete holding signs reading Save Girls Sports and cheered while an airplane with a banner reading No Boys in Girls Sports flew over the stadium I don t think that having a male in female competition is fair competition one protester explained CNN who misgendered A B while saying as an athlete she should compete in her biological field Most of parents who came with their children to the meet however noted they don t want the issue to be politicized and want the focus to remain on the competition Dan Usher who brought his teen son to compete in the shot put events from Woodside High School in the San Francisco Bay Area stated he hoped the issue can be resolved at once They are going to have to decide Usher mentioned Everybody wants to focus on the excellent performances Instead there are certain distractions In Washington State which allows athletes to participate in programs consistent with their gender identity another transgender high school athlete also won a track and field title at the state championships this weekend Ver nica Garcia won first place in the girls dash A In an interview with CNN affiliate KXLY last year the -year-old explained her decision to compete on the girls club If I m gonna start living my life as a woman it would make more sense to compete on the women s band but also for my own safety if I remained on the boys group Garcia advised the outlet New rule allowing more cisgender girls only applies to championships In California the state s Interscholastic Federation disclosed a new framework on Tuesday which only applied to this weekend s meet allowing biological female scholar athletes who would otherwise have earned a qualifying mark if not for the participation of trans students entry to the finals The top finishers in the bulk events in Friday s preliminary round advanced to Saturday s state finals in Clovis but in the three events A B was part of the top finishers were allowed to compete The same day Trump commented on Truth Social large scale federal funding will be held back maybe permanently if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to referencing his February directive titled Keeping Men Out of Women s Sports A day after Trump s announcement the Justice Department commented it was probing whether California s School Success and Opportunity Act violates the federal Title IX law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in guidance programs or pursuits receiving federal money The California law in part prohibits masses schools from blocking transgender students from participating in school sports The federal agency sent the announcement in letters to the California Attorney General and the superintendent of general instruction as well as the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District where A B attends high school The school district mentioned it is required to follow California law and the state federation s strategy regarding school athletics The office of Gov Gavin Newsom a Democrat who in recent months has broken from a multitude of progressives position on the issue and others announced the governing body s pilot rule is reasonable Newsom in a March podcast episode with conservative activist Charlie Kirk called the issue of trans athletes competing in sports deeply unfair With trans athletes participation in girls and women s sports a legal political and cultural debate stoked by the political right the White House has tried to use federal money to get states to align their policies with its ideology Protesters claim A B has biological advantage despite scarce research On Friday afternoon a protester in encouragement of trans athletes competing was arrested at the intersection in front of the stadium where the meet was taking place after assaulting an adult male who was one of the Save Girls Sports protesters according to Ty Wood population information officer for the Clovis Police Department The victim was in his car leaving the area when words were exchanged and the protester on the sidewalk ran into the street and started assaulting him Wood explained During the disturbance one of them used pepper spray against the other EMS was called before the -year-old was arrested and booked into Fresno County Jail for felony assault with a deadly weapon vandalism and obstructing delaying an officer Wood declared At the track meet one coach from Redondo Beach described CNN affiliate KCAL it s not easy for A B to be competing The coach revealed of CIF s pilot program The remedy they came up with is very good They re allowing her to compete but not displacing the other athletes I think they came up with a good approach for a complicated challenging question The obstacle is it s not going away according to the KCAL review One protester communicated the outlet what CIF is doing wrong is allowing boys in girls sports I would like to see the three categories Let them have their own category These girls don t have a fair playing field They re going against a boy the woman narrated KCAL adding she believes A B has a biological advantage At the core of disagreements over access is whether trans women have unfair physical athletic advantages Minimal trans athletes have reached elite levels of sports competition and even fewer have taken home top prizes but their limited success has fueled the growing movement to ban them from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity Research on trans people s athletic performance is scarce and there have been no large-scale scientific studies on the topic or on how hormone therapies may affect their performance in specific sport categories such as running or wrestling Trans athletes and advocates say trans people deserve the right to compete alongside their peers and reap the proven social physical and mental benefits of sports I ve trained so hard A B explained This weekend s meet wasn t the first time A B faced backlash as she competed At another competition earlier this month she was met with heckling and protesters in the crowd as she was accompanied by campus measure guards and deputies from the Orange County Sheriff s Department according to Keinan Briggs who coaches two athletes who placed lower than A B in last weekend s competition While numerous parents and neighborhood members are upset Briggs agrees with those who believe A B should compete because there is not a specific category for transgender athletes he declared In an interview with Capital Main earlier this month A B revealed she has the patronage of bulk of the athletes she competes against Girls were just shocked that people would veritably come to do that and really bully a child I ve trained so hard I mean hours of conditioning every day five days a week Every day since November three hours after school And then all of summer no summer break for me she communicated Capital Main A scant people think I m brave and strong and they hope to be like me one day I say don t just hope make it happen I m still a child You re an adult and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person explained A B whose family declined to comment for this story when contacted by CNN A B s mother Nereyda Hernandez commented this month on Instagram her daughter s identity doesn t give her an advantage it gives her courage It takes immense bravery to show up compete and be visible in a world that often questions your very right to exist let alone to participate Both A B and her mother spoke at a Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board of training meeting on April Nereyda Hernandez reported the board A B is competing at the high school level in girls sports in accordance with the law but has faced harassment and stalking We re supposed to treat all children equal and we re supposed to protect our children the mother commented adding the band does not feel unsafe A B referenced the Save Girls Sports group at the meeting saying If you are going to save someone it should be the girls on my band who all love me and assistance me and they ve described me over and over again that they want me on this squad