(LifeSiteNews) — A gender-confused male student won another girls’ jump championship over the weekend, prompting President Donald Trump to renew his threats to pull federal funding from California.
In February, Trump signed an executive order requiring school athletic programs to limit female-specific teams to real females in order to continue receiving Title IX funds.
As covered last week by LifeSiteNews, California ran afoul of that rule recently by allowing high school junior AB Hernandez, a boy who identifies as a “transgender female,” to compete for and win the women’s long jump and triple jump at the recent state Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Masters Meet. Trump responded by warning Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom that the outcome was “NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS” and that “large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to.”
Over the weekend, Hernandez went on to win first place in the girls’ high and triple jump events at state finals, the New York Post reports, although two actual female competitors, Jillene Wetteland and Lelanie Laruelle, shared first place thanks to late-breaking rule changes by the California Interscholastic Federation, which stated that any girl who lost to a boy would not lose her place and allowing for one additional female competitor to partake in any event in which Hernandez was competing.
Newsom’s office endorsed the latter rule, calling it a “reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness.”
Regardless, Trump took to Truth Social late Monday night to declare that a “Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so. As Governor Gavin Newscum fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed!!!”
Allowing gender-confused individuals to compete in opposite-sex sports is promoted by leftists as a matter of “inclusivity,” but critics note that indulging “transgender” athletes undermines the original rational basis for having sex-specific athletics in the first place, thereby depriving female athletes of recognition and professional or academic opportunities.
There have been numerous high-profile examples in recent years of men winning women’s competitions, and research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be negated by hormone suppression.
In a 2019 paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, New Zealand researchers found that “healthy young men [do] not lose significant muscle mass (or power) when their circulating testosterone levels were reduced to (below International Olympic Committee guidelines) for 20 weeks,” and “indirect effects of testosterone” on factors such as bone structure, lung volume, and heart size “will not be altered by hormone [use];” therefore, “the advantage to [gender-confused men] afforded by the [International Olympic Committee] guidelines is an intolerable unfairness.”
Critics also warn that forcing girls to share intimate facilities such as bathrooms, showers, or changing areas with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers by simply claiming transgender status.
Even the left-wing United Nations has acknowledged as much, via an October 2024 report by Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem, which found that more than 600 female athletes around the world have lost more than 890 medals to men in 29 sports as of March 2024. “To avoid the loss of a fair opportunity, males must not compete in the female categories of sport,” the report concluded.
