California school board erupts over volleyball forfeit with trans player

A recent school board meeting in California turned contentious as a girls’ volleyball team decided to forfeit a game against an opponent with a transgender player. The Riverside Poly High School team chose to forfeit the game against Jurupa Valley High School due to the presence of trans athlete AB Hernandez on the opposing team.

During the Riverside Unified School District board meeting, parents showed up to express their opinions on the matter. Some supported the girls who forfeited the game and criticized the school district’s gender policies, while others voiced their support for transgender athletes in girls’ sports.

AB Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, defended her child’s right to play in girls’ sports and called out board member Amanda Vickers for allegedly welcoming harassment towards her child. She emphasized that the issue was not about fairness in sports but about erasing transgender children.

On the other hand, a mother named Maria Correo expressed her support for the Riverside Poly players and condemned parents who allowed male children to compete in girls’ sports. She urged the girls to keep fighting against this practice.

This incident is not the first time Riverside has been embroiled in controversy over transgender athletes in girls’ sports. Last year, a lawsuit was filed by two girls at Martin Luther King High School, alleging that a transgender athlete took one of their varsity spots on the cross-country team.

The debate over transgender athletes in girls’ sports has also caught the attention of former President Donald Trump, who warned California and Governor Gavin Newsom about the state’s transgender policies. Trump threatened to withhold funding from any California school district that does not adhere to the policies.

The issue of transgender athletes in girls’ sports remains a divisive one, with a recent survey showing that a majority of Californians oppose biological male trans athletes competing in women’s sports. The survey found that over 70% of the state’s school parents support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams that align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

As the debate continues, it is clear that the issue of transgender athletes in girls’ sports will remain a contentious topic in California and beyond.