When so-called adults bully a child for political points

A California high school athlete has become a right-wing target.

By Shalise Manza Young

AB Hernandez had the meet of her young life last Saturday at the California Interscholastic Federation state track and field championship. She won the triple jump and high jump and finished second in the long jump—posting personal bests in all three events.

But as she climbed the podium to receive her medals and pose for photos, she had to make space for another girl to share the top and runner-up spots.

AB is trans; she’s wrapping up her junior year at Jurupa Valley High, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. And because of a rule the CIF rushed into place last week, only for girls’ track and field, her finishes were essentially wiped from the record book. In triple jump, AB outdistanced the true second-place athlete by just under two feet, but on the meet’s results website both AB and the other girl have a “1” next to their names. It is the same for high jump and long jump.

At least one of her competitors has no issues with AB. Brooke White, who shared second-place honors with AB (though her best jump was 14 inches behind AB’s), told the San Francisco Chronicle, “They gave me the medal I deserved and they gave her the medal she deserved, and sharing the podium was nothing but an honor. As part of the queer community, I want AB Hernandez to know that we all have her back, we all [give] her support.

“Although the publicity she’s receiving has been pretty negative, I believe she deserves publicity because she’s a superstar. She’s a rockstar—she’s representing who she is.”

But that support means nothing to the adults who stalked AB at one of her meets last month. Even when we’re in a reality of the president and far-right disinformation outlets brainwashing a not-small segment of the American populace to be cruel toward anyone and anything, it has become hard for me to be shocked.

But, watching that video a couple of weeks ago, I felt all the things: shocked, disgusted, heartbroken, and an overwhelming desire to hug AB.

Once that video got the attention of President Donald Trump, he, of course, had to add his voice to the chorus of loud and bigoted people targeting AB because of her success: Via the social media site he owns and regularly uses to make bizarre proclamations, he ranted about AB without using her name, threatened to withhold federal funding from California and vaguely demanded “local authorities” prevent AB from competing.

Stories like this invariably bring tears to my eyes. As a mother, I cannot imagine the anguish parents feel when their child—and frequently their child alone—is vilified by city or county officials, state legislatures or governors for simply existing and trying to feel the joy and accomplishment of participating in sports. As a longtime track and field coach for seventh- through twelfth-graders, I have seen firsthand the impact the sport can have on adolescent girls, from the bonds formed with teammates to the sense of achievement gained from setting personal bests to the confidence of knowing that hard work leads to improvement they can see in black and white.

These are not small things, especially in a phase of life when so many things can feel out of their control.

In AB’s situation, just as infuriating as watching so-called adults bullying a girl was seeing Gov. Gavin Newsom capitulate to Trump’s rambling online missive.

Newsom showed all the spine of a jellyfish in throwing AB to the wolves, siding with Trump and supporting the CIF’s “pilot entry process” announced within hours of Trump weighing in.

The process gave the “biological females,” as CIF wrote, who competed against AB a bump in placement. Girls who finished one spot out of qualification for the state meet at the South Section Masters Meet on May 24 because of AB’s presence were extended an invitation to the state meet.

In recent months, Newsom has seemingly been moving more to the right, probably in an attempt to appeal to more voters for a 2028 presidential run. The March debut episode of his podcast featured Charlie Kirk, whose group aims to push more young people to the far-right. Worse: Newsom agreed with Kirk when the latter launched into a trope about trans girls, calling their participation “deeply unfair.”

Newsom’s gutless behavior is in stark contrast to that of Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who recently stood strong for some of her state’s most vulnerable citizens. When Trump told Mills at a February event that he would pull federal funding from Maine if she didn’t stop two transgender girls from competing, she was firm.

“See you in court,” she replied. And Mills backed it up: When the Department of Agriculture withheld funds for a child nutrition program (the pro-life party, everyone!), Mills sued the government. After a judge ordered the administration to unfreeze the money, the department backed down, and Mills dropped the suit.

Newsom and the CIF did not learn from Mills’ example, nor those of other groups that have pushed back on Trump’s executive orders—even though the CIF was quick to bend the knee, the Justice Department has still opened a Title IX investigation into the state for its law allowing trans girls to compete and sent a notice to the Jurupa Valley school district.

Thankfully, so far, AB has been supported not just by her family but also many in her city, a largely Latino community that went for Trump by two points in last November’s election, and by the priest of her Catholic church. Two years ago, a gym teacher at Jurupa Valley was fired after she refused to honor the preferred pronouns of trans and non-binary students in violation of district rule; that teacher is spearheading the abuse campaign against AB.

The seemingly “separate but equal” treatment of California trans track and field athletes notwithstanding, I hope AB feels a tremendous amount of accomplishment and pride. She has spent this spring not just succeeding on the track but also beating back the bigots who have nothing better to do than torment a child living her best life.

Shine on, AB.

Shalise Manza Young was most recently a columnist at Yahoo Sports, focusing on the intersection of race, gender and culture in sports. The Associated Press Sports Editors named her one of the 10 best columnists in the country in 2020. She has also written for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal. Find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.

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