CA boy wins girls' track events days after McMahon warned state's trans athlete policy 'absolutely' violates Title IX

Days after Education Secretary Linda McMahon denounced California’s transgender athlete policy as “absolutely against Title IX,” a male high school athlete snagged first place in a girls’ track and field competition in Clovis.

The boy identifies as a girl named A.B. Hernandez and won the high jump and triple jump competitions at a California state championship on Saturday. 

Hernandez competed out of Jurupa Valley High School; he also took second place in the long jump event, according to Fox News. 

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This is the latest update in an ongoing saga from before the competition, beginning with a stern Tuesday warning from President Donald Trump that if California continues to allow males to “illegally” play in females’ sports, “large scale Federal Funding” would be cut. 

Just hours later, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which oversees the state’s high school sports, released a statement clarifying that any female competitor would be appropriately awarded based on performance against other female peers and that podium spots would be shared. 

The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation on Wednesday into California for alleged violations of Title IX. 

“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. “It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies.” 

“This Division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities,” he continued.

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Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon described California’s gender ideology-based policies as contrary to federal law.

 “I can tell you that it absolutely is against Title IX,” McMahon said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday. “Title IX was established so that women had equal places in sports, and this is just doing the opposite.”

McMahon added that, “We cannot allow women to have to compete against men in sports. Not only do they have an unfair advantage physically, but also, it’s a safety issue as well.” 

The Trump administration’s latest warnings to the state echoes a letter McMahon sent to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Mar. 27, in which she explained that permitting student athlete participation in sex-separated events on the grounds of “gender identity” places the state’s public schools at risk of losing their federal dollars. 

Campus Reform reached out to the CIF, DOJ, and Secretary McMahon for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.