A California high school volleyball match has sparked major controversy after one team refused to play because the other side included a transgender athlete.
Jurupa Valley High School’s girls’ squad, which counts trans player AB Hernandez among its roster, was meant to face Riverside Poly High on August 15. But Riverside Poly pulled out, forfeiting the game altogether.
The school later said the decision was “disappointing” but insisted it was about creating a “safe, positive environment for all student-athletes.”
Parents have since told local media that the forfeit was directly linked to Hernandez’s inclusion, and that the move came from school officials, not the teenage players themselves.
Amanda Vickers, a Riverside school board member, defended the call in an interview with Fox News Digital.
She cited the case of Payton McNabb, a North Carolina player who was injured in a 2022 match against a transgender athlete, saying: “Tonight, the girls of Riverside Poly High School, they’re not going to end up like Payton McNabb.”
That comment didn’t sit well with Hernandez’s mum, Nereyda, who hit back at a school board meeting later in the week.
“You are a board member. You have an oath to protect all children, not just the ones that fit your beliefs,” she told Vickers. “My daughter is not the problem. The problem is external groups using fear and religion to pit parents against each other.”
She added: “This has nothing to do with fairness in sports and everything to do with erasing transgender children.”
Sadly, this isn’t the first time AB has faced hostility. Earlier this year, she was heckled by around 30 adults (including local school board members) during a track meet in Yorba Linda. The jeers were so loud they even caused a false start.
AB later told CBS News Los Angeles: “People just see one thing and that’s what you are. They swear I’m like this crazy danger to society. I’m just a normal kid going to school, playing sports.”
She’s also been met with protests at postseason events, where some families showed up in “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts, which school officials have compared to hate symbols.
The issue has now been pulled into national politics. Donald Trump has weighed in on his Truth Social platform, threatening to pull funding from California schools that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports. His administration even filed a lawsuit against state officials earlier this summer, arguing the rules are unfair to female athletes.
For AB’s mum, though, the political noise just makes life harder for her daughter. “My daughter deserves to play, just like every other child,” she said.
With Riverside Poly’s forfeit now the latest flashpoint, the Hernandez family says they won’t stop fighting for her right to compete.
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