The Trump administration is ramping up strain on California following a transgender teenager’s victory in two state monitor titles. Sixteen-year-old AB Hernandez positioned first on the California highschool championships, drawing nationwide consideration and sparking a pointy rebuke from federal officers, per CBSNews.
Days later, the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division, led by Harmeet Dhillon, issued a letter accusing the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) of violating the Structure. The CIF’s bylaw permits college students to compete in alignment with their gender identification, whatever the gender listed on official data. Dhillon’s letter, despatched to all California public college districts, demanded they abandon the coverage and certify compliance by June 9.
In line with Dhillon, the CIF’s method quantities to “unconstitutional intercourse discrimination,” citing the Equal Safety Clause of the 14th Modification. Her letter particularly warned that knowingly limiting athletic alternatives for feminine athletes primarily based on intercourse might lead to authorized penalties. Although Hernandez wasn’t named within the letter, she turned a flashpoint the subsequent morning when President Trump posted on Fact Social that California would face “giant scale fines.”
The California Interscholastic Federation had lately adopted a pilot program for the championship meet that expanded eligibility for feminine athletes. That program enabled Hernandez to compete and share the rostrum with two different runners in certainly one of her title occasions. The pilot rule utilized solely to occasions by which she participated.
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Hernandez Responds, Investigation Begins
Amid the rising uproar, Hernandez seems unfazed. In an interview with Capital & Primary, she addressed the backlash instantly. “I am nonetheless a toddler,” she stated. “You are an grownup, and so that you can act like a toddler exhibits how you might be as an individual.”
In the meantime, appearing U.S. Lawyer Invoice Essayli introduced that the Central District of California has launched an investigation into CIF’s coverage. This provides one other layer of federal scrutiny to an already tense scenario, as political traces deepen over trans inclusion in highschool athletics.
With Trump reigniting the tradition struggle over transgender athletes, California’s college system now faces strain—not simply from vocal critics, however from the federal authorities itself.