Trans Athletes
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday it is opening an investigation to determine if a state law allowing transgender athletes to compete on female sports teams at California schools violates the federal Title IX civil rights law.
The department sent letters to state Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees high school sports in the state, informing them of the investigation.
There was no immediate response from state officials.
According to the DOJ, the investigation specifically targets state Assembly Bill 1266, the 2013 legislation aimed at preventing discrimination against transgender students and ensuring their right to take part in school activities, including athletics.
It also targets a CIF bylaw “that permits, directs, instructs or requires California high schools to allow males to participate in girls’ interscholastic athletics, thereby depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities.”
Without using her name, the DOJ letter to CIF specifically references transgender Jurupa Valley High School track and field AB Hernandez, who will compete in this weekend’s state championship meet in the triple jump, long jump and high jump events.
“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education. It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,” Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement. “This division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.”
In coordination with the Title IX investigation, DOJ officials also announced the agency has filed a “statement of interest” in a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of two Riverside high school students who said they faced repercussions for wearing T-shirts opposing a transgender student on the school’s track-and-field team.
The lawsuit was filed in November against the Riverside Unified School District, on behalf of plaintiffs identified only as “K.S.,” a ninth- grade cross country competitor, and “T.S.,” an 11th-grader and girls’ team captain. The suit alleges T.S. was removed from the cross country team in favor of a transgender athlete, and that T.S. and K.S. were both penalized when they wore T-shirts protesting the move.
The DOJ Title IX investigation comes one day after President Donald Trump posted on social media that he would withhold federal funding from California if transgender athletes are allowed to compete in girls sports, and he called on local authorities to prevent AB Hernandez from competing in this weekend’s CIF State meet.
“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newsom, continues to ILLEGALLY allow `MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS.’ This week a transitioned male athlete, at a major event, won `everything,’ and is now qualified to compete in the `State Finals’ next weekend.”
The athlete Trump is presumably referring to is Hernandez.
“As a male, he was a less than average competitor. 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. The Governor, himself, said it is `UNFAIR.’ I will speak to him today to find out which way he wants to go??? In the meantime I am ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow the transitioned person to compete in the State Finals. This is a totally ridiculous situation!!!”
The CIF on Tuesday announced a change in the entry rules for the state track-and-field champion meet, essentially expanding the field of competitors in various events to ensure “biological female” athletes are not excluded from the competition, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
“Under this pilot entry process, any biological female student- athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet, was extended an opportunity to participate in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships,” according to CIF. “The CIF believes this pilot entry process achieves the participation opportunities we seek to afford our student- athletes.”
The CIF statement did not specifically mention transgender athletes, although the governor’s office noted the change is aimed at ensuring biological female athletes won’t be displaced from this weekend’s meet, while still allowing transgender athletes to compete.
“CIF’s proposed pilot is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness — a model worth pursuing,” the governor’s office Director of Communications Izzy Gardon said in a statement. “The governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach.”
AB Hernandez, a junior on the Jurupa Valley High School track and field team, will be the only openly transgender athlete competing at the CIF State Track and Field meet. She is ranked as one of the top athletes in California, ranked by athletic.net No. 1 in the triple jump and No. 2 in the long jump.
Hernandez won the girls invitational portion of the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut in April and CIF Southern Section Division 3 titles in May at Moorpark High School in the long jump and triple jump.
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