Trans high school athlete wins two events at California finals in shadow of protests, Trump funding threats

Clovis California CNN The transgender high school athlete whose participation in this weekend s California track and field championships prompted President Donald Trump to threaten to remove state funding reached the podium in all three of her events Saturday A B Hernandez a constituents high school junior in Southern California took first place in the high jump and the triple jump and finished in second place in the long jump in the finals Following criticism from particular in the region who mentioned A B s participation prevented lower-ranked competitors from advancing to the championships this weekend the high school sports governing body allowed more cisgender girls whose gender identity conforms with their sex assigned at birth to compete The California Interscholastic Federation also noted if a transgender athlete earned medals in an event their ranking wouldn t prevent a biological female from medaling as well the Associated Press released That means A B shared her top spot with two co-winners in the high jump and one co-winner in the triple jump As A B was warming up for her first field event Saturday protesters outside the stadium used a megaphone to yell no boys in girl sports multiple times until the general address announcer interrupted the meet and demanded respect for the athletes The meet resumed shortly after She placed first in long jump high jump and triple jump in the preliminary round Friday as a group protested her ability to compete holding signs reading Save Girls Sports and cheered while an airplane with a banner reading No Boys in Girls Sports flew over the stadium I don t think that having a male in female competition is fair competition one protester recounted CNN who misgendered A B while saying as an athlete she should compete in her biological field Bulk parents who came with their children to the meet however stated they don t want the issue to be politicized and want the focus to remain on the competition Dan Usher who brought his teen son to compete in the shot put events from Woodside High School in the San Francisco Bay Area stated he hoped the issue can be resolved at once They are going to have to decide Usher disclosed Everybody wants to focus on the excellent performances Instead there are particular distractions In Washington State which allows athletes to participate in programs consistent with their gender identity another transgender high school athlete also won a track and field title at the state championships this weekend Ver nica Garcia won first place in the girls dash A In an interview with CNN affiliate KXLY last year the -year-old explained her decision to compete on the girls squad If I m gonna start living my life as a woman it would make more sense to compete on the women s company but also for my own safety if I remained on the boys group Garcia informed the outlet New rule allowing more cisgender girls only applies to championships In California the state s Interscholastic Federation revealed a new plan on Tuesday which only applied to this weekend s meet allowing biological female participant athletes who would otherwise have earned a qualifying mark if not for the participation of trans students entry to the finals The top finishers in the bulk events in Friday s preliminary round advanced to Saturday s state finals in Clovis but in the three events A B was part of the top finishers were allowed to compete The same day Trump explained on Truth Social large scale federal funding will be held back maybe permanently if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to referencing his February directive titled Keeping Men Out of Women s Sports A day after Trump s announcement the Justice Department commented it was assessing whether California s School Success and Opportunity Act violates the federal Title IX law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in instruction programs or events receiving federal money The California law in part prohibits society schools from blocking transgender students from participating in school sports The federal agency sent the announcement in letters to the California Attorney General and the superintendent of citizens instruction as well as the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District where A B attends high school The school district explained it is required to follow California law and the state federation s procedures regarding school athletics The office of Gov Gavin Newsom a Democrat who in the last few days has broken from several progressives position on the issue and others reported the governing body s pilot rule is reasonable Newsom in a March podcast episode with conservative activist Charlie Kirk called the issue of trans athletes competing in sports deeply unfair With trans athletes participation in girls and women s sports a legal political and cultural debate stoked by the political right the White House has tried to use federal money to get states to align their policies with its ideology Protesters claim A B has biological advantage despite scarce research On Friday afternoon a protester in endorsement of trans athletes competing was arrested at the intersection in front of the stadium where the meet was taking place after assaulting an adult male who was one of the Save Girls Sports protesters according to Ty Wood society information officer for the Clovis Police Department The victim was in his car leaving the area when words were exchanged and the protester on the sidewalk ran into the street and started assaulting him Wood announced During the disturbance one of them used pepper spray against the other EMS was called before the -year-old was arrested and booked into Fresno County Jail for felony assault with a deadly weapon vandalism and obstructing delaying an officer Wood disclosed At the track meet one coach from Redondo Beach stated CNN affiliate KCAL it s not easy for A B to be competing The coach stated of CIF s pilot approach The answer they came up with is very good They re allowing her to compete but not displacing the other athletes I think they came up with a good method for a intricate challenging question The matter is it s not going away according to the KCAL document One protester described the outlet what CIF is doing wrong is allowing boys in girls sports I would like to see the three categories Let them have their own category These girls don t have a fair playing field They re going against a boy the woman notified KCAL adding she believes A B has a biological advantage At the core of disagreements over access is whether trans women have unfair physical athletic advantages Scarce 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 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 I ve trained so hard A B announced This weekend s meet wasn t the first time A B faced backlash as she competed At another competition earlier this month she was met with heckling and protesters in the crowd as she was accompanied by campus precaution guards and deputies from the Orange County Sheriff s Department according to Keinan Briggs who coaches two athletes who placed lower than A B in last weekend s competition While a great number of parents and population members are upset Briggs agrees with those who believe A B should compete because there is not a specific category for transgender athletes he mentioned In an interview with Capital Main earlier this month A B declared she has the patronage of majority of of the athletes she competes against Girls were just shocked that people would in fact come to do that and really bully a child 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 recounted Capital Main A minimal 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 I m still a child You re an adult and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person announced A B whose family declined to comment for this story when contacted by CNN A B s mother Nereyda Hernandez reported this month on Instagram her daughter 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 Both A B and her mother spoke at a Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board of schooling meeting on April Nereyda Hernandez stated the board A B is competing at the high school level in girls sports in accordance with the law but has faced harassment and stalking We re supposed to treat all children equal and we re supposed to protect our children the mother reported adding the company does not feel unsafe A B referenced the Save Girls Sports group at the meeting saying If you are going to save someone it should be the girls on my association who all love me and advocacy me and they ve explained me over and over again that they want me on this company