Latest news with #A.B.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What we know about the trans high school student at the center of Trump's threat to remove California funding
A transgender high school student was pushed into the national spotlight this week after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California over her participation in this weekend's state track and field championships. A.B. Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School, is at the center of controversy after she qualified in the long jump and triple jump in the upcoming meet, prompting the agency governing high school sports in California to change its rules to allow more cisgender girls to compete. The California Interscholastic Federation said in the announcement Tuesday it decided at the end of its track and field qualifying meets last weekend to 'pilot an entry process' for the championships, inviting those 'biological female' student athletes who would have otherwise earned a qualifying mark were it not for the participation of trans students in the competition, an automatic entry to compete in the finals. On Tuesday, President Trump said, '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,' in a post on Truth Social. President Trump's statement alluded to his February executive order titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports,' which leans on compliance with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities receiving funding from the federal government. In an interview with the nonprofit news organization Capital & Main earlier this month, Hernandez said after competing on the team for three years, this is the first year her presence has received backlash. 'There's nothing I can do about people's actions, just focus on my own,' Hernandez told Capital & Main. 'I'm still a child. You're an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person.' The Hernandez family declined to comment for this story when contacted by CNN. Here's what we know about the student athlete and why her participation in women's sports events has drawn controversy: In its statement, the federation said the rule change only applies to this weekend's competition without specifying whether it will be set in place for all future sports events. Coach Keinan Briggs, a club coach who is not affiliated with specific schools, coaches two student athletes – from Calvary Chapel High School in Santa Ana and Woodbridge High School in Irvine – who took lower places in the last weekend's competition due to A.B.'s participation. At the Southern Section Masters Meet, A.B. finished first in the triple jump and long jump, qualifying her for the upcoming championships. Briggs' student Skyler Cazale, from Santa Ana, finished third in the triple jump last weekend but her third-place finish behind AB drew significant ire from the community, he told CNN. According to the Capital & Main report, A.B. is ranked third in California in the triple jump but she's not highly ranked nationally. A.B.'s placement also had a 'trickle effect,' which bumped his student from Irvine down because she did not make the qualifying list for the championships in the long jump, effectively ending her season, Briggs said. The coach added he felt for the student and her parents because he 'couldn't give her the emotional support that I typically would give because it wasn't us, it was the way the system set up that put her in a position to where she couldn't continue.' 'That's been hard for her,' Briggs said. 'She also understands that the mark was the mark, she needed to hit that, but it comes down to the fairness of the event – the way it's set up – there was one less biological girl able to compete.' While many parents and community members are upset, Briggs says he agrees with those who believe A.B. should be competing because there is not a specific category for transgender athletes. He doesn't believe the Trump administration should take away California funding, but says the bigger question should be: 'How do we give support for all athletes to be able to feel welcome, included, to where they're able to compete?' Rather than taking away federal funding, Briggs said the federal funds should be used to create resources and opportunities for more student athletes in general. A.B. has been training rigorously, said Briggs, who added he's watched her 'progression throughout the years. She is getting better; she's doing a great job. However, right now, the debate is where she should be competing.' At a track meet earlier this month, A.B. was accompanied by campus security guards and deputies from the Orange County Sheriff's Department as she faced heckling and protesters in the crowd, Briggs said. During a break at the meet, A.B. said in an exclusive interview with Capital & Main she has the support of most of the athletes she competes against. 'Girls were just shocked that people would actually come to do that, and really bully a child,' A.B. told the news organization. '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 said in the interview. 'A few 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.' Sonja Shaw, a candidate for California superintendent of instruction in the 2026 election and an activist with the advocacy group Save Girls Sports, which is pushing for a ban on trans girl athletes from girls' athletics in the state, had a heated exchange with A.B.'s supporters and her mother, Nereyda Hernandez, according to Capital & Main reporting. 'What a coward of a woman you are, allowing that,' Shaw told A.B.'s mother, according to the Capital & Main report. In a statement on Instagram earlier this month, A.B.'s mother said A.B.'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.' Nereyda Hernandez said in the post the actions of those who have 'doxed, harassed and violated my daughter A.B.'s privacy' are 'not only shameful, but they are also abusive,' and have created a 'hostile and unsafe environment for a minor.' At the core of disagreements over transgender athletes' participation in sports, which prompted more than half of US states to implement bans on trans athlete participation since 2020, is whether transgender women have unfair physical athletic advantages. Few 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, CNN has reported. 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. Even among cisgender athletes, bodies and physical abilities vary widely, and traits that may be an advantage in one sport – such as grip strength or bone density – may not be an advantage in others, experts say. A day after Trump's threat to withhold federal funding from California over A.B.'s participation in the sporting event, the Justice Department announced it was investigating whether California's School Success and Opportunity Act, which in part prohibits public schools from blocking transgender students from participating in school sports, violates Title IX. Letters were sent by the Justice Department to the California Attorney General and the superintendent of public instruction, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District. In a statement to CNN, the school district said it is required to follow California law and the state federation's policy regarding school athletics. 'Both state law and CIF policy currently require that students be permitted to participate in athletic teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records,' the Jurupa Unified School District said. A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said the CIF's proposed pilot rule change for the upcoming championships is 'reasonable.' Newsom has recently taken aim at a number of causes popular among progressives and previously said transgender girls and women competing is 'an issue of fairness' in a break from many Democrats' position on the topic. 'Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It's deeply unfair,' Newsom said in a podcast episode with conservative activist Charlie Kirk in March. Leandra Blades, president of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board of education, introduced a resolution last week she said would make the district compliant with Title IX, only allowing 'biological females' to compete in women's sports, but it failed on a 3-2 vote by the district's trustees. She told CNN the issue of trans student athletes has 'been a low roar in our community for the last couple of years,' but complaints started to accelerate after A.B. competed at Yorba Linda High School within the school district. The board of education president said she believes the federal government should take away funding from the state if trans women are allowed to compete in women's sporting events moving forward and if the new CIF rule only applies to the one championship meet. Despite misgendering A.B. throughout her interview with CNN, Blades said she doesn't have 'any issues' with the LGBTQ+ community, adding: 'I just believe in fairness in women's sports, and we should follow Title IX.' The school district prohibits harassment against any student, saying it has done a 'very good job with bullying policies and being inclusive to all students.' CNN's Samantha Waldenberg, Stephanie Elam, Jen Christensen and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
Calgary Herald
14-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
Edmonton police sergeant given reprimand for off-duty impaired driving; fifth such disciplinary case since 2023
An Edmonton Police Service sergeant has been given a reprimand after admitting to drunk driving, with the hearing officer taking note of a 'significant number of similar cases within the service.' Article content Article content Sgt. A.B. — so identified because police do not reveal the names of officers given reprimands — admitted to a single count of discreditable conduct under the Police Act on April 16. Article content Article content According to a disciplinary decision released Wednesday, the 20-year EPS veteran was pulled over by Beaumont RCMP just before midnight July 29, 2023, while off-duty and behind the wheel of his personal vehicle. A.B. had been driving 20 km/h over the speed limit near Range Road 241 and Highway 625 and blew a 'fail' on a breathalyzer. Article content Article content Fred Kamins, the retired RCMP superintendent who heard the case, accepted a joint submission from lawyers for the chief of police and Sgt. A.B. The two sides recommended a formal reprimand, which will stay on A.B.'s file for five years. Article content While he agreed to the proposed punishment, Kamins said it was 'on the lighter side' of penalties he might usually impose, but credited the officer for his 'co-operation, early pleas and acceptance of discipline.' Sgt. A.B.'s case is not the first impaired driving matter to come before Kamins in recent years. Article content Including Sgt. A.B., five officers have been found guilty of unprofessional conduct in the past year-and-a-half for driving under the influence, for incidents that occurred between 2021 and 2023. Three decisions were released in December 2023 — one resulting in an unpaid suspension and two reprimands, including in a case that led to criminal charges — while a fourth officer was handed a reprimand in May 2024. Article content Article content Kamins said the number of recent cases 'suggests the need for general deterrence' of other officers. Article content Article content In a statement, EPS spokesperson Carolin Maran said the service 'takes impaired driving seriously' regardless of whether it involves a member of the public or an employee. Article content 'While even one incident is too many, this is not indicative of an ongoing trend,' she said, noting the time period over which the incidents took place. Article content A.B. was charged under section 88.1 of the Traffic Safety Act and given an immediate 90-day licence suspension, followed by a year-long suspension with the option of participating in the ignition interlock program. He was also ordered to take a 'planning ahead' course and pay a $1,000 fine.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NY mom files lawsuit against school after son allegedly punished for defending 'two genders'
The mother of a middle school student in New York is taking legal action after her son was allegedly disciplined for saying that there are two genders. According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on Friday, "A.B.," a middle school student at East Aurora Middle School, was suspended by the school for five days in March and was told that part of the reason for the suspension was because he expressed his belief there were only two genders. The court filing, which does not identify the mother or student, states that A.B. made this comment in November, but no disciplinary action was taken against him at the time. However, the complaint says A.B. was given a disciplinary notice in March that "vaguely" accused him of "violent conduct" and his prior statement about gender was cited as "part of the rationale for his punishment." A.B. did not disrupt school activities or target any specific individual with his gender remark, the filing claims. Massachusetts Teen Battling In Court Over T-shirt Thrilled With Trump's 'Only Two Genders' Policy According to the complaint, A.B. was charged with violating the student code of conduct, which prohibits speech that "demeans" or "denigrates" others "if it presents a reasonable foreseeable risk of disruption." Read On The Fox News App "The Defendants' claim that A.B.'s words constituted 'violence' was a pretext to justify retaliation against him for expressing a viewpoint that school officials disfavored," the complaint states. The school and district are accused in the lawsuit of retaliating against the student's First Amendment rights and violating his right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment. The complaint claims that school officials were "motivated by a desire to retaliate" against the student's comment, months after he expressed his views, because President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January recognizing "two sexes, male and female." Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Middle School Student Who Wore 'Only Two Genders' Shirt "So here you've got an educational institution that still wants to charge a kid for saying what the President of the United States has now said is the official government policy of the United States," the mother's lawyer, R. Anthony Rupp III, told Buffalo News. Rupp said in the same report that the district is seeking a longer suspension for the student's gender comment and two other comments the student made, which are not mentioned in the lawsuit. The mother's legal team is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees and for the school officials to expunge any disciplinary record related to A.B.'s protected speech. The complaint was filed by an unnamed East Aurora Middle School parent, "J.S." on behalf of her minor child, "A.B.," and lists East Aurora Middle School Principal Matthew Brown and East Aurora Union Free School District Superintendent Brian Russ as defendants. Brown and Russ did not return requests for comment. The plaintiff's attorney, R. Anthony Rupp III, did not return a request for article source: NY mom files lawsuit against school after son allegedly punished for defending 'two genders'
Fox News
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
NY mom files lawsuit against school after son allegedly punished for defending 'two genders'
The mother of a middle school student in New York is taking legal action after her son was allegedly disciplined for saying that there are two genders. According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on Thursday, "A.B.," a middle school student at East Aurora Middle School, was suspended by the school for five days in March and was told that part of the reason for the suspension was because he expressed his belief there were only two genders. The court filing, which does not identify the mother or student, states that A.B. made this comment in November, but no disciplinary action was taken against him at the time. However, the complaint says A.B. was given a disciplinary notice in March that "vaguely" accused him of "violent conduct" and his prior statement about gender was cited as "part of the rationale for his punishment." A.B. did not disrupt school activities or target any specific individual with his gender remark, the filing claims. According to the complaint, A.B. was charged with violating the student code of conduct, which prohibits speech that "demeans" or "denigrates" others "if it presents a reasonable foreseeable risk of disruption." "The Defendants' claim that A.B.'s words constituted 'violence' was a pretext to justify retaliation against him for expressing a viewpoint that school officials disfavored," the complaint states. The school and district are accused in the lawsuit of retaliating against the student's First Amendment rights and violating his right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment. The complaint claims that school officials were "motivated by a desire to retaliate" against the student's comment, months after he expressed his views, because President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January recognizing "two sexes, male and female." "So here you've got an educational institution that still wants to charge a kid for saying what the President of the United States has now said is the official government policy of the United States," the mother's lawyer, R. Anthony Rupp III, told Buffalo News. Rupp said in the same report that the district is seeking a longer suspension for the student's gender comment and two other comments the student made, which are not mentioned in the lawsuit. The mother's legal team is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys' fees and for the school officials to expunge any disciplinary record related to A.B.'s protected speech. The complaint was filed by an unnamed East Aurora Middle School parent, "J.S." on behalf of her minor child, "A.B.," and lists East Aurora Middle School Principal Matthew Brown and East Aurora Union Free School District Superintendent Brian Russ as defendants. Brown and Russ did not return requests for comment. The plaintiff's attorney, R. Anthony Rupp III, did not return a request for comment.
CBC
03-03-2025
- CBC
Woman admits sex trafficking 2 girls in southeast N.B.
A 19-year-old woman has admitted to sex trafficking charges involving two underage girls in the Moncton area. Her name can't be reported because of a publication ban imposed when she pleaded guilty to five charges on Feb. 10. The ban was imposed under a section of the Criminal Code about protecting "a justice system participant" in a case involving a criminal organization. The woman admitted trafficking the girls by recruiting and controlling their movement, advertising sexual services, and receiving a financial or other benefit from the commission of a crime in early April 2024. Crown prosecutor Marc-André Desjardins read an agreed statement of facts during the Feb. 10 appearance that detailed what the woman admits about the operation. Paid to bring girls to Moncton Court documents use the initials A.B. and C.D. for the two girls, which are not their actual initials. A publication ban restricts reporting their names. The prosecutor said the woman had the girls, aged 15 and 16, send her sexual photos of themselves and then paid for their travel to Moncton. Once in Moncton on April 8, 2024, the woman took explicit photos of the two and used the photos to post ads on a website listing sexual services and prices. Desjardins said about 15 men met the two girls at an apartment in Dieppe between April 9 and April 16 last year. Cab driver called police Police became involved on April 12, when a cab driver dropped A.B. off at a Moncton address and then called Codiac Regional RCMP concerned about her wellbeing. Police spoke to A.B., but she claimed everything was OK and that her family knew where she was. Officers assumed she was unharmed and left. However, a police force in another province then called the RCMP to say A.B. was a sex trade victim. On April 14, police found A.B. at an apartment in Dieppe, where the 19-year-old was present. She tried to keep police from talking to A.B. A second girl was also spotted by police in the apartment. A.B. was detained by police but didn't divulge any information. Police return to apartment The following day, police found the ads listing sexual services showing explicit photos of A.B. classified as child porn. On April 16, a police force in the girls' home province contacted RCMP to say a second girl, C.D., was missing in circumstances similar to A.B. That same day, police responded to a 911 call about a dispute at the Dieppe apartment. "It was believed there was a disagreement between a man and a group of women over money and services," Desjardins said. Officers entered the apartment and in a statement, C.D. said she had at least 10 clients. She told police about not wanting to have sex, but the 19-year-old told her to do it. Sentencing later this month C.D. told police she didn't have control of the ads with her photos listing sexual services, and the money the clients paid her was handed over to the 19-year-old woman. "C.D. was never explicitly threatened or assaulted by [the woman], but C.D. felt she had no choice but to provide the service as she was living with [the woman] and did not have financial capacity … and did not know how to book transportation back" home. In August last year, police met A.B. and C.D. in their home community. The girls said the woman would book their clients and wouldn't show them the messages with the clients. After the prosecutor finished reading the agreed facts, the woman agreed that's what happened and confirmed her guilty plea to the five charges. The woman is scheduled to be sentenced March 20.
