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President Donald Trump warned California and Gov. Gavin Newsom about the state’s transgender policies as a new issue popped up in high school girls’ volleyball earlier this month.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez has been playing girls’ volleyball for the Jurupa Valley High School team months after creating a stir in track and field. Riverside Poly High School announced its team would forfeit instead of playing against Jurupa Valley.
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President Donald Trump, in foreground, listens to a question from a reporter as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, from left, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth look on in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)’s gender-participation policies have been at the forefront of the controversy. While the organization amended some of its policies when it came to track and field, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the CIF and the California Department of Education (CDE) over biological males continue to compete against females. The policy countered Trump’s executive order, which he signed in February.
“Any California school district that doesn’t adhere to our Transgender policies, will not be funded. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Newsom’s office responded to a request for comment.
AB Hernandez, a transgender student at Jurupa Valley High School, poses for photos with her medals at the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, Calif., Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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“If it’s a day ending in y, President Trump is attacking kids’ safety, health, and access to education as part of his culture war,” Newsom spokesperson Elana Ross told Fox News Digital.
Transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports is an issue that doesn’t appear to be going away despite Trump’s “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.
California is one of a handful of states that has yet to change their policies to adhere to the switch. The Kern County Board of Education changed its own policies recently in defiance of the state’s policy.
Newsom has previously said the CDE and CIF are following laws the state enacted in 2013 but has repeatedly said he believes males competing in girls’ sports is “unfair.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives a speech on redistricting in August 2025. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
“I struggled with the issue of fairness when it came to sports,” Newsom said in response to the lawsuit at a July event. “And we tried to figure that out a couple of years ago, and we were unsuccessful. And we struggled with that recently.
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“And my position is that I don’t think it’s fair, but I also think it’s demeaning to talk down to people and to belittle the trans community. And I don’t like the way the right wing talks about the trans community. These people just want to survive.”
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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