Photo Essay: A transgender high school athlete navigates a fight she never asked for
On the morning the Trump administration threw its weight behind a local lawsuit challenging California rules that allowed her to compete on her high school track and field team, Abi had more pressing concerns.
The 17-year-old transgender athlete was graduating that evening from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside. Her competing in girls' hurdles had kicked up protests, and she was nervously planning one last act of high school rebellion.
'The [school administration] was not allowing students to bring anything except their phones, and they were searching us before,' she said, referring to the graduation ceremony. 'So I had to smuggle contraband into a high-profile event with the risk of losing my diploma that I worked so hard to get this year.'
Hours later, Abi whipped out a small transgender flag. As she walked across the graduation stage in her cap and gown, she waved it above her head despite being terrified that doing so would land her in trouble.
She also knew from months of fighting for her right to compete that many people in the crowd disagreed with her on transgender rights, and some were outwardly hostile. But she didn't flinch.
It was a milestone moment for a transgender teen who dealt with — and survived — a modern American political gantlet because she 'didn't have much of a choice.'
'No one asked me if I had the mental strength or not before they sued California over me or before they sent hundreds of students to protest against me all day,' Abi said. 'I just figured everything out on the go.'
Since writing about and photographing Abi for a February story, The Times has followed her closely to capture what life is like for a teenager caught in the middle of that debate.
In February, she asked to remain anonymous given the threats to transgender athletes. But now, along with her mother, Abi agreed to have the resulting photographs, and her name, published here. Even though just days have passed since another transgender athlete — AB Hernandez — drew protests at California's high school track and field championships. Abi did not qualify to compete.
Transgender activism 'was never something I was planning on doing,' Abi said, 'but I'm a fighter.'
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