Earlier in the week, President Trump had issued a strong warning against permitting transgender athletes in girls’ sports; nevertheless, California permitted a transgender participant to compete and take home titles at the state’s premier track and field championship.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez claimed first place in both the girls’ high jump and triple jump events on Saturday in Clovis, California, after maintaining a dominant performance over female competitors throughout the season.
Only Loren Webster outscored Hernandez during Saturday’s events, surpassing the transgender athlete after being defeated by Hernandez on Friday.
Responding to Trump’s threat to cut state funding and deploy authorities to block transgender athletes from joining female categories, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) revised its participation rules. The update expanded the eligible competitor pool and granted medals to any female athletes who would have won had the transgender participant not competed. Consequently, medals were distributed to girls who were outplaced by Hernandez as if Hernandez had not taken part.
Tensions continued to run high in Clovis despite the revised guidelines and resulted in a confrontational atmosphere. During the event, LGBTQ activist Ethan Kroll was arrested after using a flagpole to break the window of a car. Conservative activist Josh Fulfer, who was allegedly targeted, repelled the assault with pepper spray until law enforcement arrived.
“This afternoon at 3:55 PM, a disturbance between two adults occurred at the intersection of Nees/Minnewawa,” the Clovis Police Department reported. “One adult on the sidewalk and one in a vehicle at the intersection became involved in a disturbance that turned physical. During the disturbance, one of them used pepper spray against the other. EMS was called, and one of the adults was arrested.”
Sergeant Chris Hutchison confirmed that the protester faced charges of assault with a weapon and resisting a police officer.
“We don’t have room for violence or property damage or anything like that,”
Hutchison asserted.
Separately, on Friday a plane circled over the stadium, trailing a banner proclaiming, “No boys in girls’ sports.”
According to Fox News, women’s advocacy organizations such as Women Are Real and the Independent Council for Women’s Sports were responsible for both arranging and financing the aerial demonstration.
Sophia Lorey, the outreach director for California Family Council, uploaded video footage to social media which showed her being led out of the venue by CIF officials for distributing wristbands that bore the slogan, “Save Girls’ Sports.”
In remarks to Fox News Digital, Lorey expressed her surprise at being asked to leave, mentioning that such actions had not been an issue when giving out wristbands at past events.
“We handed out half-page fliers at the prelims event, and we were not told anything that we couldn’t do that,”
she recounted.
Lorey further indicated that, contrary to other competitions, a person with a megaphone made continuous appeals to the crowd not to express hateful or derogatory comments to athletes.
California currently faces two federal reviews into its stance on transgender athlete inclusion: one investigation from the Department of Justice that began earlier in the week, and another from the Department of Education that started in February.
Whether President Trump will retaliate against California by withdrawing funding, in response to the state’s actions, is still uncertain.
