It has been about a year since President Trump targeted AB<\/a>, who is transgender. As a result, the athlete and her mother knew what to expect when the track postseason began in May. There would be cameras, protesters and vitriol directed at a high school athlete.<\/p>\n \u201cIn November, we took a trip,\u201d Nereyda said. \u201cWe went to New York and Cancun, we had a blast. We knew we had to get ready, we had to have that peace, because they were going to do this again.\u201d<\/p>\n Jurupa Valley athlete AB Hernandez, who is transgender, poses on her school\u2019s track with senior day posters supporting her.<\/p>\n (Courtesy of Hernandez family)<\/p>\n CIF policies allow transgender athletes to compete<\/a> alongside other cisgender girls. If the transgender athlete places high enough to advance in qualifying or to medal at a CIF event, the athlete advances or receives the medal. But so does the next athlete in line. As a result, AB shared the first-place podium alongside another athlete twice at the state track and field meet last year.<\/p>\n This effort to include everyone did not quell protests.<\/p>\n Outside of a track and field preliminary meet at Yorba Linda High on Saturday, an anti-transgender advocacy group called Save Girls\u2019 Sports organized a protest against California policies that allow transgender athletes to compete based on their gender identity. During a news conference they streamed before the event, they accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom of failing to protect fairness in girls\u2019 sports.<\/p>\n \u201cGirls across California will continue losing placements, safety and opportunities that they rightfully earned,\u201d said former Vanguard University soccer player Sophia Lorey, who is the outreach director of California Family Council.<\/p>\n Nereyda said this year hasn\u2019t been as bad as a year ago when Hernandez was first thrust into a national anti-trans backlash.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce they started posting [online] about their protest, I thought, \u2018Wow, it\u2019s going to be another crazy year,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBut no, on the outside, they had maybe, maybe 10 people. \u2026 They\u2019re there to target one child, but they affect all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n California\u2019s two leading Republican gubernatorial candidates, businessman Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, sent statements that were read at the rally against Hernandez\u2019s participation. Shaw also participated in the protest.<\/p>\n Hernandez competed in girls\u2019 volleyball the past three seasons and has stayed in the news cycle whenever she competes in track events.<\/p>\n \u201cI told AB, this is a [midterm] election year,\u201d Nereyda said. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna hit us hard, because they\u2019re using us for their campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n Several sports governing bodies have banned trans girls and women from women\u2019s sports since Trump\u2019s executive order in January 2025 that directs federal agencies to restrict transgender women and girls from participating in women\u2019s sports. But the California high school athletics governing body has resisted, sparking outrage from anti-trans groups.<\/p>\n Nereyda constantly reminds people that Hernandez\u2019s participation does not violate any California law or CIF bylaw and she doesn\u2019t block anyone else from participating in competition.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has been doing this sport since freshman year [of high school],\u201d Nereyda said. \u201cShe\u2019s not doing anything wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n On Saturday, Hernandez placed first in three events at the CIF Southern Section Division 3 preliminaries \u2014 triple jump, long jump and a five-way tie for high jump \u2014 a year after she won two state titles<\/a> in triple jump and high jump. (She earned silver in the long jump.) Hernandez\u2019s triple jump and long jump scores this weekend were the state\u2019s best marks this season, but behind state records.<\/p>\n Protesters have demanded Hernandez and other trans girls not be allowed to compete with cisgender girls at all, regardless of CIF\u2019s inclusion rules.<\/p>\n \u201cThese young women trained for years for this moment, and they deserve a level playing field,\u201d Lorey said in the press conference. \u201cThe CIF\u2019s policy doesn\u2019t protect inclusion; it destroys it. Girls\u2019 sports exist because women fought for them. We will fight for them again.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Jurupa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778764692_163_.jpeg\")
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