Transmissions: Being good sports

At a recent track meet in Clovis, California, something remarkable happened.

The meet, formally called the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field Championships, brought together high school-aged competitors from across the state. When all was said and done, two competitors shared the top spot on the podium – although this was not your typical tie.

AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old student at Jurupa Valley High School, took home gold medals in both the girls’ high jump and triple jump. She also earned a silver medal in the long jump. Her tie was predicated on a new policy by CIF that requires trans girls to share their victory with their non-transgender competitors.

You hardly need me to tell you that the issue of transgender students in schools – particularly in school sports programs – has been a heated topic. This is a saga that has been some time in the making.

The issue first started to really take shape in 2016, when the Departments of Justice and Education under the Obama administration sent a directive to schools, declaring that trans students were covered under the sex-based discrimination protections afforded under Title IX. It even spoke directly to the issue of school athletics and trans students.

"Title IX regulations permit a school to operate or sponsor sex-segregated athletics team when selection for such teams is based upon competitive skill or when the activity involved is a contact sport,” the directive stated. “A school may not, however, adopt or adhere to requirements that rely on overly broad generalizations or stereotypes about the differences between transgender students and other students of the same sex (i.e., the same gender identity) or others' discomfort with transgender students."

I consider this directive to be, in large part, the flashpoint of nearly a decade of anti-trans animus from the right. This was the moment the right truly started to pivot into the anti-trans juggernaut it is today, after moving away from its loss over marriage equality in 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

Much like other transgender people in sports over the last few years, such as Lia Thomas, who won the NCAA Division I women's 500-yard freestyle event in 2022, Hernandez has quickly become the poster child for everything wrong about transgender women and girls in sports. Everyone from hecklers at her matches to Republican President Donald Trump has spoken out against this teen’s participation.

With the latter, Trump took to his bully pulpit, Truth Social, to claim that Hernandez's involvement was – capitalization from the original, "TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS," and threatening to cut off federal aid to California if she was allowed to compete.

Likewise, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom – who, on his podcast told right-wing guest Charlie Kirk that allowing trans women and girls to compete in women's sports is "deeply unfair" – welcomed the policy change by CIF that, while it does allow trans athletes to compete, it also awards competitors who may have lost to a trans person.

 
This is how Hernandez ended up in a tie – making her win, and the placement of others in those races, something other than a simple first, second, and third place outing.

No, I don't think it is fair and have talked about this at length before. This is a high school track and field meet, and Hernandez is a girl participating in a girls' sports program. But I digress.

What I think is most important in this case is to hear from some of the competitors who actually participated in this track meet. I think their voices should be elevated and must be considered over those of non-transgender politicians like Newsom and Trump.

Brooke White took second place to Hernandez in the triple jump. Rather than taking her cues from someone like Riley Gaines, who has famously turned her fifth-place tie with Thomas in 2022 into a lucrative right-wing, anti-transgender career, White spoke positively about her competitor.

"Sharing the podium was nothing but an honor," White told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Although the publicity she's been receiving has been pretty negative, I believe she deserves publicity because she’s a superstar, she's a rock star, she's representing who she is.

"As a part of the queer community, I want AB Hernandez to know that we all have her back,” White continued. “It's emotional; it gets people heated from all sides of the argument. But when I got here and I talked to AB Hernandez ... I learned to knock out all of the negativity. The negativity: It affects us, too."

Kira Gant Hatcher tied with Hernandez in the triple jump, and they shared the first place slot on the podium that day. "I feel like all of us, we're always together over there," said Hatcher. "We see the same people at a lot of meets, so you form friendships."

"I love both of the people I tied with," added Jillene Wetteland, another competitor who tied with Hernandez in the high jump.

This is the thing I want you to think about. If the competitors on the field, who are there to compete for themselves and for their schools, are able to rise above the squabbling from activists, from the media, and from our elected officials, then shouldn't that be what's important? These are high school students - shouldn't we be teaching them what they need to have a successful life?

I read the quotes above and, to me, there were a lot of winners on that field with Hernandez, and not just because of their athleticism.

Gwen Smith suspects we'll hear a lot more from Newsom and Trump in the next few weeks. You'll find her at www.gwensmith.com