A trans athlete won in California. Her peers cheered – and exposed the truth.

USA Today

03-06-2025

A trans athlete won in California. Her peers cheered – and exposed the truth. | Opinion While Trump and Republicans act like there's an epidemic of trans women and girls competing in women's sports, these competitors make up a fraction of a fraction of the overall number of athletes.
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Trans teen publishes children's book about inclusivity
This transgender teen co-wrote 'A Kids Book About Being Inclusive' with the hopes of inspiring children everywhere.
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Hate is a learned behavior that Repubilcans seem really happy to teach. The latest lesson is on transphobia.
Over the weekend, California held its state high school track and field meet. It's the kind of thing that would normally happen without much fanfare beyond parents, coaches and college recruiters.
But this event was different.That's because of the participation of AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender girl who in recent days has been the focus of national attention after President Donald Trump threatened to cut funding to the state if it allowed a trans girl to compete in categories that aligned with her gender. While Trump didn't mention Hernandez by name, it was clear who he was referring to.
The threat led event organizers to change the rules of the meet, allowing the athlete who finished behind Hernandez to share the podium with her. In a scenario almost designed to single out Hernandez, she and her competitors made the most of it.
AB Hernandez and the other teen girls show us the way forward
Hernandez shared first place in the high jump and triple jump, as well as second in the long jump. While some heckled her as she competed, they were drowned out by cheers. As she and the other girls took the podium, they smiled for cameras and ignored hecklers. Hernandez and Brooke White, with whom she shared second place in the long jump, put their arms around each other.It mirrors what Hernandez's mother, Nereyda Hernandez, has shared about her daughter's fellow competitors through TransFamily Support Services: that they have treated her with respect, unlike adults, including the president, who treat her daughter like a problem.
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That's the reality of the entire conversation surrounding trans athletes – that while adults are up in arms about a single teenage girl, the athletes competing against her don't seem to mind.
In fact, they're setting an example for how all of us should treat our trans neighbors, i.e., treating them like human beings, not enemies.
Trump is obsessed with attacking a small number of people
Trump has made a huge fuss about keeping trans women and girls out of sports as part of his overall campaign promise to do away with 'radical gender ideology' in daily life and within the federal government. Despite this obsession, there are very few trans women and girls actually playing sports.
According to the president of the NCAA, among more than 500,000 athletes competing at the collegiate level, there are fewer than 10 who publicly identify as transgender.
There could be just an equally astonishing number participating in grade school athletics: Save Women's Sports, an anti-trans advocacy group, could only identify five trans students competing on girls' teams from kindergarten through grade 12 in 2023. That group's entire existence is to hate trans athletes, and they found very little to hate.
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While the Trump administration, Republicans and transphobic adults are acting like there is an epidemic of trans women and girls competing in women's sports, these competitors truly make up a fraction of a fraction of the overall number of athletes competing across the country. Talk about making mountains out of mole hills.
It's also not a coincidence that all of this is happening while Republicans actively try to make it harder for people to receive Medicaid, deport people without due process and let Trump waffle on tariffs that will hurt the economy. Instead of doing something to make life better for the average American, they've chosen to demonize trans people.
What if I told you that athletes don't seem too worried about trans people?
There isn't even a huge number of athletes complaining about having to compete against their transgender counterparts. In fact, there are many athletes willing to stand up for their competition.
In 2022, Olympian and Stanford swimmer Brooke Forde released a statement about swimming against University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who is trans. You might remember how Riley Gaines, one of the women who competed against Thomas, made an entire career out of complaining about her fellow competitor, even though the two women tied for fifth place at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
However, I think Forde's opinion on the matter deserved, and failed to receive, equal attention.
'I believe that treating people with respect and dignity is more important than any trophy or record will ever be, which is why I will not have a problem racing against Lia at NCAAs this year,' Forde said in a statement her father read in a sports podcast.
I have a lot more respect for the teenagers who treated Hernandez like friendly competition than the adults who are attacking a 16-year-old for daring to exist as her authentic self. In this debate over who can be an athlete, I think we often overlook that these are children and young adults simply trying to do what they love and find some semblance of normalcy in a country actively trying to erase them. The way Hernandez's competitors reacted is proof to me that it isn't young people who want to vilify trans people.
To the teenage girls who smiled with Hernandez and helped maintain a sense of normalcy as adults heckled a fellow teenager, keep doing what you're doing. Continue to focus on yourselves and refuse to listen to the adults who believe they are fighting for your honor, when all they're doing is villainizing one of your own. At the end of the day, you're only trying to be better than your previous best, both on and off the track. Adults want to teach you hate. Teach them love, instead.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno