With the championships on the horizon this month, parents and activists have launched a campaign to protect A.B. Hernandez—and all trans athletes—from state-sanctioned discrimination.
It breaks my heart to read how badly the California Interscholastic Federation has treated A.B. Hernandez. The leaders of that organization don't hold a candle to the integrity and courage of A.B., her parents, and A.B.'s competitors who congratulated and supported her. As usual, some of the adults are failing the kids.
For years I believed that the best solution to this issue was a return to the pre-Trump status quo, when the various sports leagues and associations, and their coaches and parents worked out a solution. Reading this story, I think I was wrong.
The truth is that there is no real middle ground here, at least if winning is the only thing that matters. In that regard, Trans athletes are not just challenging gender norms, they are challenging a culture around athletics that prioritizes winning and the end result over participation and the process of playing what is, at the end of the day, only a game.
I think this issue would matter a whole lot less if many families didn't perceive athletics as an integral part of their child's path to college and a lucrative career. Having lived abroad, I must say that the United States takes youth sports unusually seriously, relative to elsewhere in the world.
In a country in which social mobility has been destroyed and AI seems poised to relegate 70% of the country to a permanent underemployed underclass, the trans girl between your daughter and her softball scholarship might as well be the devil. That's the demagogue's framing, anyway.
Evelyn, I could not agree more, and no one can accuse me of not grasping the nature of sports. For almost 40 years I worked in fancy private schools where I saw first hand what you describe, not just as a classroom history teacher but also as a coach of a variety of sports at different levels. During my career, I watched parents, their children, and coaches let themselves increasingly become obsessed with winning at any cost. (I also attended such schools and was a fine athlete who enjoyed sports. My favorite season was my senior year of football. It was a blast even if didn't win a single game.) Furthermore, my three sons were all excellent athletes who began playing on town teams when little and finished playing in college.
You could make a strong case that Trump's obsession with winning is a reflection our national obsession and of the danger of this bizarre frame of mind. By the way, one of the qualities that I love about mayor Mamdani of NYC is that he played club soccer in college and always enjoyed the game and felt privileged to be able to participate.
The irony is AB can't get a college scholarship BECAUSE THE NCAA HAS BANNED TRANSGENDER ATHLETES. The girl who AB regularly duels with in the long jump, who often finishes second, is going to University of Oregon on a full scholarship. AB isn't even necessarily able to go to college.
Making two separate classes of what it is to be a woman is exactly what patriarchal defenders want. Cis and Trans with trans being lesser. Well the patriarchy can shove it. Trans women are women, trans girls are girls and we need to loudly say this. No one should be foricbly outted and these policies should be relegated to the dustbin of history.
What this doesn't make clear, and I presume it's because it is not yet known, what individuals put this back into place who thought they were being slick? What (Dem ?) pols gave them cover?
CIF is a collection of individuals. Who are they? Who are their patrons here?
Thank you for the reporting, Baum. Did you see my email or Signal message?
They are an extremely opaque organization, and Rainbow Families Action has spent the better part of the year trying to answer those questions, showing up to every public comment period, poised to oppose this policy if anyone ever proposed it. But they didn't, and no one will say where the decision originated.
There's immense pressure on whoever the '28 Dem nominee is to explicitly and unashamedly repudiate trans rights. To be sure, Newsom and at least several other major candidates will be falling all over themselves to show which one of them is the least committed to protecting trans people.
The transphobes will continue to vote Republican anyway.
I think the incentives for Democrats running for California state office are significantly different than the incentives for Democrats running for national office, though who knows what the future may bring.
I agree. The Democratic Party is still contested territory - not like Labour in the UK, which has been pretty much taken over by TERFs. I just don't want us to take the allyship of the Democrats for granted, because there's clearly also a powerful faction within the party that wants the party to drop the issue.
If one party says "we hate trans people and want them to die" while the other one says "we're gonna let the other guys kill the trans people because we heard that talking about it would be bad for us politically", which party does the righteous voter support?
I humbly submit before the court that anyone who could vote against this shit, but stays home instead, does not, in fact, support protecting all people.
In the context of US politics in 2026, we vote for whoever the most likely candidate is to beat the Republican in the general election. That's what "voting against this" means. It doesn't mean we're guaranteed an ally in whatever office, just that the worst-case scenario- a Republican who will actively work to make things worse for us- doesn't get that seat instead. We don't have the luxury of sitting out elections just because we don't have any good options.
Ummm...does CIF happen to mention how they intend to prove their medaling competitors are cis? I mean, they made the rule, so now they have to enforce it, right?
If they don't then complaints should certainly be lodged.
Newsom is a snake, corporate lib. Republican lite. Hernandez is aspirational, here’s to hoping she gets a positive spotlight in a future with justice restored.
I'm glad that so many of her fellow athletes and their parents seem to have her back, even if the people running CIF have so completely (and deliberately) failed to.
I will never support Gavin Newsome within the Democratic Party. His satirical social media posts have made him look far more progressive than he actually is; his willingness to sacrifice trans kids reveals the truth.
The handling of AB Hernandez by CIF is a disgrace, but even more disgraceful is the Governor of California siding with Charlie Kirk — someone who preaches “morality” while ignoring it when convenient.
If he and many of these religious zealots truly lived by the values they constantly lecture others about, they would have to confront the hypocrisy in much of what they condemn.
And as for the Governor, if he openly agrees with Charlie Kirk on transgender issues, as he stated on his podcast, then the public has every right to ask: what else does he agree with?
Leadership means defending vulnerable people, not validating political attacks against them.
This is not the kind of politician I could ever support or vote for or want as my president
Terrific reporting, S. Baum.
It breaks my heart to read how badly the California Interscholastic Federation has treated A.B. Hernandez. The leaders of that organization don't hold a candle to the integrity and courage of A.B., her parents, and A.B.'s competitors who congratulated and supported her. As usual, some of the adults are failing the kids.
For years I believed that the best solution to this issue was a return to the pre-Trump status quo, when the various sports leagues and associations, and their coaches and parents worked out a solution. Reading this story, I think I was wrong.
The truth is that there is no real middle ground here, at least if winning is the only thing that matters. In that regard, Trans athletes are not just challenging gender norms, they are challenging a culture around athletics that prioritizes winning and the end result over participation and the process of playing what is, at the end of the day, only a game.
I think this issue would matter a whole lot less if many families didn't perceive athletics as an integral part of their child's path to college and a lucrative career. Having lived abroad, I must say that the United States takes youth sports unusually seriously, relative to elsewhere in the world.
In a country in which social mobility has been destroyed and AI seems poised to relegate 70% of the country to a permanent underemployed underclass, the trans girl between your daughter and her softball scholarship might as well be the devil. That's the demagogue's framing, anyway.
Evelyn, I could not agree more, and no one can accuse me of not grasping the nature of sports. For almost 40 years I worked in fancy private schools where I saw first hand what you describe, not just as a classroom history teacher but also as a coach of a variety of sports at different levels. During my career, I watched parents, their children, and coaches let themselves increasingly become obsessed with winning at any cost. (I also attended such schools and was a fine athlete who enjoyed sports. My favorite season was my senior year of football. It was a blast even if didn't win a single game.) Furthermore, my three sons were all excellent athletes who began playing on town teams when little and finished playing in college.
You could make a strong case that Trump's obsession with winning is a reflection our national obsession and of the danger of this bizarre frame of mind. By the way, one of the qualities that I love about mayor Mamdani of NYC is that he played club soccer in college and always enjoyed the game and felt privileged to be able to participate.
The irony is AB can't get a college scholarship BECAUSE THE NCAA HAS BANNED TRANSGENDER ATHLETES. The girl who AB regularly duels with in the long jump, who often finishes second, is going to University of Oregon on a full scholarship. AB isn't even necessarily able to go to college.
This is just wrong.
Making two separate classes of what it is to be a woman is exactly what patriarchal defenders want. Cis and Trans with trans being lesser. Well the patriarchy can shove it. Trans women are women, trans girls are girls and we need to loudly say this. No one should be foricbly outted and these policies should be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Right! Once we start policing who is “really” a woman, the policing of women’s bodies will not stop. (Just ask Caster Semanya.)
What this doesn't make clear, and I presume it's because it is not yet known, what individuals put this back into place who thought they were being slick? What (Dem ?) pols gave them cover?
CIF is a collection of individuals. Who are they? Who are their patrons here?
Thank you for the reporting, Baum. Did you see my email or Signal message?
They are an extremely opaque organization, and Rainbow Families Action has spent the better part of the year trying to answer those questions, showing up to every public comment period, poised to oppose this policy if anyone ever proposed it. But they didn't, and no one will say where the decision originated.
Yup. Newsom's running.
There's immense pressure on whoever the '28 Dem nominee is to explicitly and unashamedly repudiate trans rights. To be sure, Newsom and at least several other major candidates will be falling all over themselves to show which one of them is the least committed to protecting trans people.
The transphobes will continue to vote Republican anyway.
I disagree. I want to pressure Porter, Becerra, and Steyer on exactly this issue. Let's see who can even come close to the complexity.
I think the incentives for Democrats running for California state office are significantly different than the incentives for Democrats running for national office, though who knows what the future may bring.
Walz was an unapologetic supporter. Pritzker is. AOC too. I don't think this is a done deal.
I agree. The Democratic Party is still contested territory - not like Labour in the UK, which has been pretty much taken over by TERFs. I just don't want us to take the allyship of the Democrats for granted, because there's clearly also a powerful faction within the party that wants the party to drop the issue.
And those who support protecting all people will stay home again
If one party says "we hate trans people and want them to die" while the other one says "we're gonna let the other guys kill the trans people because we heard that talking about it would be bad for us politically", which party does the righteous voter support?
I humbly submit before the court that anyone who could vote against this shit, but stays home instead, does not, in fact, support protecting all people.
There’s no one to vote for who is against this
In the context of US politics in 2026, we vote for whoever the most likely candidate is to beat the Republican in the general election. That's what "voting against this" means. It doesn't mean we're guaranteed an ally in whatever office, just that the worst-case scenario- a Republican who will actively work to make things worse for us- doesn't get that seat instead. We don't have the luxury of sitting out elections just because we don't have any good options.
Ummm...does CIF happen to mention how they intend to prove their medaling competitors are cis? I mean, they made the rule, so now they have to enforce it, right?
If they don't then complaints should certainly be lodged.
Newsom is a snake, corporate lib. Republican lite. Hernandez is aspirational, here’s to hoping she gets a positive spotlight in a future with justice restored.
I'm glad that so many of her fellow athletes and their parents seem to have her back, even if the people running CIF have so completely (and deliberately) failed to.
I will never support Gavin Newsome within the Democratic Party. His satirical social media posts have made him look far more progressive than he actually is; his willingness to sacrifice trans kids reveals the truth.
This story makes me _so_ angry.
The handling of AB Hernandez by CIF is a disgrace, but even more disgraceful is the Governor of California siding with Charlie Kirk — someone who preaches “morality” while ignoring it when convenient.
If he and many of these religious zealots truly lived by the values they constantly lecture others about, they would have to confront the hypocrisy in much of what they condemn.
And as for the Governor, if he openly agrees with Charlie Kirk on transgender issues, as he stated on his podcast, then the public has every right to ask: what else does he agree with?
Leadership means defending vulnerable people, not validating political attacks against them.
This is not the kind of politician I could ever support or vote for or want as my president
Fucking Newsom. He's Trump with a spit-shine.
Hats off to the fellow competitors who got AB up on the podium to accept her final two medals. The kids are alright.
Newsome doesn’t deserve our votes.
The ongoing campaign to pressure trans girls to choose self-exclusion from sports is enraging. My opinion, of course.
In case you missed it embedded in the article, please be sure to go to our call to action. There's still a chance to stop this in the next two rounds and support and empower AB in her last competitions. https://www.rainbowfamiliesaction.org/news/tell-the-california-department-of-education-to-shut-down-the-bigoted-pilot-policy-in-sports-now
Stay strong A.B! You have so many people on your cheerleading squad.