Latest news with #StateTrackandFieldChampionships
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump Administration Targets California After Trans Athlete Wins Track Events
The Trump administration is going after California following a 16-year-old trans athlete's victories in a state track and field championship over the weekend. The 16-year-old, AB Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County, has made headlines and been at the center of protests in recent months simply for competing. Despite protests on Saturday, Hernandez won first place in the girls' high jump and triple jump at the State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California. Hernandez also finished second in the long jump. But because of a new rule instituted by the California Interscholastic Federation, multiple other student athletes also received medals in the categories that Hernandez competed in. As such, Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle also won first place in the high jump, and Kira Gant Hatcher also won first in the triple jump. Brooke White also placed second in the long jump. 'A Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so. As Governor Gavin Newscum fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed!!!' the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday. On the same day, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, sent a transphobic letter to public school districts in California claiming that the state's law allowing students to compete in sports based on their gender identity rather than the identity assigned to them at birth is 'facially unconstitutional.' 'The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex,' Dhillon, a legal adviser to Trump, an anti-voting rights and anti-LGBTQ rights extremist, argued in the letter. 'Knowingly depriving female students of athletic opportunities and benefits on the basis of their sex would constitute unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause.' 'Scientific evidence shows that upsetting the historical status quo and forcing girls to compete against males would deprive them of athletic opportunities and benefits because of their sex,' she also wrote, without clarifying where to find the evidence. The letter gives California a week to fall in line with the Justice Department's interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause, which seems to complement Trump's February executive order. Trump's order aims to block 'male competitive participation in women's sports' and 'rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.' In a letter to superintendents and administrators in the state on Tuesday, Tony Thurmond, the California superintendent of public instruction, reportedly said that the department would review the request and respond by June 9, but that the letter isn't the law. According to The Athletic, Thurmond argued that the Equal Protection Clause 'does not require that athletic teams be segregated by 'biological sex.'' 'The DOJ assertions are not in themselves law, and the letter by itself cannot be an enforcement mechanism,' Thurmond also reportedly said. The news comes after the California Interscholastic Federation, California's high school sports governing body, expanded eligibility for the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships rather than excluding anyone from the competition. 'The CIF values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code,' the organization continued. On Sunday, Nereyda Hernandez, AB Hernandez's mom, told local outlet KCRA that she was a Trump supporter, but her daughter's perspective and treatment changed her views. 'Just talking to AB, and I started analyzing things differently,' Nereyda Hernandez said. 'It's too much for me because we're people and I don't feel we're being treated as such.' She also told KCRA that the protests during her daughter's big day were a little distracting, but that she was 'proud of her.' 'A kid is more mature than a lot of these adults putting her in this situation. So I'm just happy, yeah, I could brag. That's my baby,' she added. Representatives for the Jurupa Unified School District and the California Interscholastic Federation, respectively, did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment. California Sports Org Expands Finals Eligibility After Trump Tantrum Over Trans Athlete California Is Investigating Paramount Over Its Alleged Settlement Offer To Trump Judge Rules Federal Prisons Must Continue Providing Hormone Therapy To Transgender Inmates
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Has Trump responded to transgender student athlete's wins at CIF state track meet?
A Jurupa Valley High School transgender athlete swept into a national and political firestorm earned first and second place in several events at the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field Championships late May. AB Hernandez placed first in the girls high jump and girls triple jump and second in the girls long jump at the state championships held in Clovis May 30 and May 31. National attention has been fixed on the Southern California student athlete after President Donald Trump warned he'd cut federal funding to California if the state continued to allow transgender women and girls to compete in women's sports days before the state championships. While Trump's post did not name Hernandez, news reports quickly linked the president's comments to the Jurupa Unified high schooler. Hernandez shared the podium with her cisgender competitors, USA TODAY reported. It comes after the California Interscholastic Federation announced rule changes that allowed 'biological female' student athletes to receive the medal for the podium placement they would have earned had a transgender female athlete not competed. Hernandez also was part of a three-way tie for first in the high jump after all three competitors cleared the same height. The awards ceremonies after the events did not produce any protests or disruptions – according to New York Times reporting from the meet in Clovis – as some had feared if Hernandez won a state title. Trump has not shared anything on Truth Social, X or Facebook regarding Hernandez's placements at the state championships as of the morning of Sunday, June 1. The president previously said in a Truth Social post on May 27 that 'large-scale federal funding will be held back, maybe permanently' if the executive order he signed in February isn't followed. Called 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports,' the executive order targets transgender women and girls participating in women's sports. Trump also said in that Truth Social post on May 27 that he was 'ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow' the athlete, presumed to be AB Hernandez, to compete in a state finals event. The Jurupa Valley High School student's accomplishments come days after the Department of Justice announced that it was opening an investigation to determine whether state officials, the California Interscholastic Federation and Jurupa Unified School District are 'engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of sex.' The Department of Justice said it is investigating whether Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs, is being violated by California's AB 1266, which requires that students be allowed to participate in sex-segregated school programs like sports teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity, regardless of their gender listed on their records. Legal notice about the Department of Justice's Title IX-investigation was sent to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Jurupa Unified School District and the California Interscholastic Federation. USA TODAY reporter Steve Gardner contributed to this story. Paris Barraza is a trending reporter covering California news at The Desert Sun. Reach her at pbarraza@ This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: SoCal student at center of transgender athlete debate wins at CIF
