Nearly 10 teams forfeit games against transgender California volleyball player

At least eight high school girls’ volleyball teams in California have forfeited matches against Jurupa Valley High School, which has a transgender-identifying male athlete on its roster.

Jurupa Valley senior AB Hernandez, who previously won state championships in girls’ high jump and triple jump, has also become the focus of controversy in girls’ volleyball.

The latest forfeit came from Patriot High School, which is in the same Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD) as Jurupa Valley. 

“We can confirm the Patriot High School volleyball team will forfeit their Sept. 26 match,” JUSD told Fox News.

Earlier this month, Aquinas High School, Yucaipa High School and San Dimas High School refused to play Jurupa Valley during the Freeway Games tournament. Riverside Poly High School, Rim of the World High School, Orange Vista High School and AB Miller High School have also declined to take the court. 

Parents cited fairness and safety concerns. 

“The decision was not about hatred or anything negative. Trans people still have rights but not a right to play sports against the opposite sex,” Fred Brayton, the father of a Riverside Poly player, told reporters. “It is not about AB. It is about women need[ing] to play against other women. It is about boys participating in girls’ sports. 

“The small minority of the community that thinks we are discriminating have it wrong,” he added. “You can be trans all day long, but you can’t be a boy and play girl sports. You can still go about being trans but probably need to focus on that and not playing sports against the opposite sex.” 

Meanwhile, three of Hernandez’s current and former teammates have filed a lawsuit against JUSD, the California Interscholastic Federation and the California Department of Education. 

“Plaintiffs have been intimidated by an intentionally hostile environment created by Defendants wherein they were bullied by school officials to censor their objections to competing with, and against, a male and to sharing intimate and private spaces with a male,” the lawsuit reads. 

JUSD has encouraged critics to bring their concerns to lawmakers. 

“School districts do not write laws for the state of California, nor do they have the power to ignore them or change them,” the district said. 

Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, is encouraged by girls taking a stand and refusing to play against a male opponent. Jones likened it to the situation at San Jose State University last year when several teams refused to play the college because its roster featured a male transgender player. 

“Schools were forced to see that female athletes were not going to take this,” she told The Lion via email. “Women have had enough, and now high school girls have accepted the torch. Girls do not have to participate in events where their rights are being violated and they are being forced to face blatant sex-based discrimination. 

“The attention is now on schools, sports leaders, and politicians to take action, speak out and find their backbone to defend female athletes’ rights.”