Trans teen competes in US high school athletics championships
The participation of trans athletes in women's sports events has been the subject of intense controversy. (AFP pic)
SAN FRANCISCO : A transgender high school athlete shrugged off scattered protests and heated criticism from president Donald Trump to reach the finals of multiple events at California's state championships today.
AB Hernandez, 16, was the top qualifier for tomorrow's finals in the girls' long jump and girls' high jump at the California State Track & Field Championships in Clovis, outside of Fresno.
Hernandez's participation at the meeting has been the subject of intense controversy, with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) scrambling to adjust competition rules this week as anger grew on all sides.
About a dozen protesters outside the venue sported T-shirts and signs reading 'Save girls sports.'
On Tuesday, CIF officials announced that entry rules had been modified so that biological females were not excluded from competition due to the participation of trans athletes.
A day later, CIF issued another rule change – specifically targeting events in which Hernandez was qualified to compete – which mandates that any athlete who misses out on a podium finish behind a trans athlete would still receive a medal.
'If necessary, in the high jump, triple jump and long jump events at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, a biological female student-athlete who would have earned a specific placement on the podium will also be awarded the medal for that place and the results will be reflected in the recording of the event,' the federation announced in a statement.
The last-minute rules changes came after days of controversy which have included Hernandez being targeted by Trump on social media.
The US President, who did not mention Hernandez by name, threatened to withhold federal funding from California in future if she was allowed to compete in this week's championships, which got underway today with finals due tomorrow.
'As a female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable. THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS,' Trump wrote.
'Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to…This is a totally ridiculous situation!!!'
Trump's comment was followed by an announcement from the US department of justice that it had launched an investigation into whether California had violated Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programmes that receive federal funding.
Local and state officials have also criticised Hernandez's participation, calling for the teenager to be prevented from competing.
At a press conference yesterday, Clovis mayor Diane Pearce called for CIF to block Hernandez's participation following their rule amendments earlier in the week.
'Today, I call on CIF to do the right thing. Updates one and two were not enough, but the third time can be the charm,' Pearce said.
'CIF still has a chance to make it right by removing biological males from girls' sports.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Free Malaysia Today
2 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
US says trade row with China could ease after Trump-Xi talks
US President Donald Trump participates in a welcoming ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping during his 2017 visit to Beijing. (Reuters pic) WASHINGTON : A logjam in the trade talks between the US and China could be broken once Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping speak, US officials said Sunday – a conversation they said could happen soon. Trump on Friday accused Beijing of violating a deal reached last month in Geneva to temporarily lower staggeringly high tariffs the world's two biggest economies had imposed on each other, in a pause to last 90 days. China's slow-walking on export licence approvals for rare earths and other elements needed to make cars and chips have fuelled US frustration, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday – a concern since confirmed by US officials. But US treasury secretary Scott Bessent seemed to take the pressure down a notch on Sunday, telling CBS's 'Face the Nation' that the gaps could soon be bridged. 'I'm confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call that this will be ironed out,' Bessent said, however noting that China was 'withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement.' When asked if rare earths were one of those products, Bessent said, 'Yes.' 'Maybe it's a glitch in the Chinese system. Maybe it's intentional. We'll see after the president speaks with' Xi, he said. On when a Trump-Xi call could take place, Bessent said: 'I believe we will see something very soon.' Kevin Hassett, director of the White House's National Economic Council told ABC that the call could happen 'this week' but that he had no confirmation of a scheduled time. Since Trump returned to the presidency, he has slapped sweeping tariffs on most US trading partners, with especially high rates on Chinese imports. New tit-for-tat levies on both sides reached three digits before the de-escalation this month, where Washington agreed to temporarily reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. China, meanwhile, lowered its added duties from 125% to 10%. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick told 'Fox News Sunday' that China was 'slow-rolling the deal,' adding: 'We are taking certain actions to show them what it feels like on the other side of that equation.' 'Our president understands what to do. He's going to go work it out,' Lutnick said. Lutnick also said that a US court battle over Trump's tariff strategy – one court's ruling to block the tariffs has been stayed pending an appeal – would ultimately end with a win for the president. 'Tariffs are not going away,' Lutnick said. 'We've got to be ready' Separate from the China deal, Trump said Friday he would double sector-specific tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% starting June 4 – sparking ire from the European Union, which said it would retaliate. Hassett said China's dumping of low-cost steel was hurting US industry – which in turn was hindering US military preparedness. 'The bottom line is that we've got to be ready in case things don't happen the way we want, because if we have cannons but not cannonballs, then we can't fight a war,' Hassett told 'This Week.' 'And if we don't have steel, then the US isn't ready, and we're not preparing ourselves for something,' he added. 'We have to have a steel industry that's ready for American defence.'
The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Trump, Xi likely to speak soon, Treasury's Bessent says
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
The Star
12 hours ago
- The Star
Exclusive-Ukraine to set out roadmap for peace at Istanbul talks, document shows
FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press briefing following phone calls with U.S. President Donald Trump, amid Russia?s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian negotiators at talks scheduled for June 2 in Istanbul will present to the Russian side a proposed roadmap for reaching a lasting peace settlement, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters. The proposed roadmap begins with a full ceasefire of at least 30 days, to be followed by the return of all prisoners held by each side, and of Ukrainian children taken into Russian-held territory, and then a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Under the blueprint, Moscow and Kyiv -- with the participation of the United States and Europe -- will work to hash out the terms on which they can agree to put a complete end to their three-year-old war, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Ukrainian officials said earlier this week that they had sent the blueprint to the Russian side in advance of the Istanbul talks. The framework Ukrainian terms for a peace deal as set out in the document seen by Reuters are largely the same as the terms previously put forward by Kyiv. Those include no restrictions on Ukraine's military strength after a peace deal is struck, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and reparations for Ukraine. The document also stated that the current location of the front line will be the starting point for negotiations about territory. Those terms diverge considerably from demands that Russia has made publicly in the past few weeks. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Kyiv said earlier this week it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals which has not materialised. Nevertheless, Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he will send a delegation of his officials to meet their Russian counterparts in Istanbul. (Writing by Christian Lowe, Editing by William Maclean)
