By Cerise Fort for Capital & Fundamental
Sixteen-year-old AB Hernandez is a pure athlete. On a latest blustery afternoon, she stood on the fringe of Jurupa Valley Excessive Faculty’s athletic area, ready for her occasion at a observe and area meet to be known as. As a voice introduced over the loudspeaker, “Girls Triple Jump!,” she ran to take her place. On her flip, she broke right into a measured, excessive stride, arms swinging in time together with her legs. She quickened her tempo and hurtled in direction of a sand pit. As she reached her mark, she flung herself excessive into the air and forwards a number of meters. She rapidly pointed her toes and reached her arms ahead as she descended, lastly splashing down into the sand. Cheers erupted from the stands whereas she rolled onto her abdomen, stood and ran to her mates, smiling.
A small faction of adults have made AB Hernandez the face of a marketing campaign to rewrite California legislation that has allowed transgender youngsters to play on their college’s sports activities groups for over a decade. None of them has youngsters enrolled within the Jurupa Valley Unified Faculty District; a number of homeschool their children.
“This is all child abuse,” Nereyda Hernandez, AB’s mom, advised Capital & Fundamental in an unique interview. “They just need to leave my baby alone.”
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Nereyda Hernandez evaluations authorized paperwork in her workplace.
The Hernandez household has lived in Jurupa Valley, an equestrian, largely Latino metropolis of about 106,000, for almost 30 years. AB grew up, the youngest of 4 sisters, like many different native children: on a ranch surrounded by household. Her grandparents immigrated to the USA from Mexico and El Salvador, and instilled a powerful sense of religion and custom into the household. Nereyda, who grew to become a widow in her early 20s, raised her youngsters often attending a Catholic church.
Nereyda didn’t know her daughter was trans till AB was within the eighth grade.
“I was accidentally asked about her. I just said, ‘I’m just letting her be her,’ but I really didn’t know,” she recalled. Nereyda stated she didn’t all the time perceive her daughter’s expertise, however made a degree to teach herself. “As long as in your household, your child has that support, you stand behind your child, then they’re gonna be OK. I’m gonna stand behind her 120%. That’s my job as a mom.”
In 2013, then-California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Faculty Success and Alternative Act into legislation, making certain that transgender youth can absolutely take part in all college actions, sports activities groups, applications, and services that match their gender identification. This previous February, President Donald Trump banned transgender girls and ladies from faculty girls’s and highschool ladies’ sports activities groups. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) acknowledged in response to Trump’s motion that it will permit trans athletes to compete beneath current California legislation. Shortly afterwards, the U.S. Division of Schooling introduced a Title IX investigation into CIF for its coverage permitting transgender highschool athletes to play ladies’ sports activities. Title IX is a federal legislation aimed toward stopping gender discrimination in training.
“There is the threat from the federal government to withhold funding. [And] there’s threats from the state government to withhold funding if we violate laws,” Superintendent Trenton Hansen stated on the Jurupa Unified Faculty District Board of Schooling’s March assembly. “Unfortunately, school districts are placed in the middle of this tug of war. All the information we’ve received from legal counsel … is that we follow the laws here in California, that [Trump’s] executive orders do not carry the weight of the force of law, and that these issues will need to be figured out in the court system.”
Many residents of Jurupa Valley, which Trump received by two factors in November, have united in assist of AB.
“Our community is in 100% support of our neighbors,” stated Armando Carmona, a member of Jurupa Valley’s Metropolis Council. “I’ve extended 100% support to our young athlete, who’s competing at the highest level in high school, because they’re competing within the current rules. In this community we can talk about federal issues, we talk about state or even global issues. But at the end of the day, we all realize we’re neighbors first.”
5 mother and father of youngsters enrolled in JUSD colleges who spoke with Capital & Fundamental stated they absolutely assist AB competing.
“It’s not about the divide of the topic, it’s about the well-being of a child, that all she wants to do is play sports,” stated Veronica Hurtado, whose son attends an area highschool. “As a mom, I can assure you there’s not a mother in this community that wouldn’t agree with me when they say you’re worried about her safety and her mental health.”
Hurtado says she will be able to relate to Nereyda Hernandez. When Hurtado’s daughter, Molly Ramirez, got here out a lesbian, she says she was pressured by an administrator to remain within the closet. Hurtado promptly moved her daughter to a unique college. Right now, her daughter runs the household’s feed retailer, and says she feels accepted by the neighborhood.
“I have a lot of younger people generations younger than me that are coming out. And my goal is to make them comfortable,” Ramirez stated. “I feel like that’s what our community is about.”
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Metropolis Council Member Armando Carmona stands exterior Jurupa Valley Metropolis Corridor.
AB has been athletic her complete life. She has carried out tumbling, hip-hop dance, cheerleading, soccer, baseball and volleyball. Her mom says that sports activities has helped AB navigate troublesome circumstances prior to now, just like the sudden loss of life of Nereyda’s mother and father in 2021 from COVID-19 issues, and changing into the topic of a nationwide debate.
“I think that [sports] is her way of coping with things. This is, in a sense, therapy,” she stated. “’Cause at the beginning, I was worried about suicidal thoughts. I’ve always been scared of people hurting her.”
The onslaught in opposition to AB has been led by a former trainer and close by college board president. Jessica Tapia, a former gymnasium trainer at Jurupa Valley Excessive Faculty, was fired in January 2023 after stating she wouldn’t respect trans and nonbinary college students’ pronouns — a violation of district coverage. She started posting about AB on her social media pages in October 2024. Tapia was joined by 5 others on the Jurupa Unified Faculty District Board of Schooling’s March assembly, the place they misgendered AB repeatedly and demanded the board cease AB from competing.
“We know deep down in our heart this isn’t normal and it isn’t right,” Tapia stated in an interview. “Any time that I have an opportunity to speak into an issue, especially a tip of the spear, hot topic issue, I take it as God calling me to use my voice, my experience, my platform, my influence to speak the truth.”
Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified Faculty District and candidate for California Superintendent of Colleges, started collaborating with Tapia’s Instagram posts about AB in February. A kind of posts included the 16-year-old’s full identify, and the identify of her highschool. Nereyda Hernandez subsequently despatched a cease-and-desist to Tapia and Shaw, which Shaw tore up at a Board of Schooling assembly whereas intentionally misgendering AB.
“I stand with parents, athletes, and coaches who demand real fairness in sports and privacy protections for all students,” Shaw stated in a press release to Capital & Fundamental. “We will not be silenced, and we will not stop fighting until girls receive the respect, opportunities, and safety they deserve. Enough is enough.”
Molly Ramirez tends to one among her household’s horses.
AB Hernandez is at present ranked third in the USA for triple soar behind two ladies from excessive colleges in Texas and Arizona, two states which have banned gender-affirming look after trans youngsters.
Nereyda Hernandez stated she wished the governor had stopped the dialog when her daughter was talked about. Jurupa Valley Metropolis Councilmember Carmona agreed.
“Bringing in a minor, a minor of color into this worldwide debate or discussion … is a major challenge and it’s problematic,” Carmona stated. “We have a family that’s been harassed and attacked by extremists on one side targeting a child.”
Throughout a Friday afternoon go to to her church, Nereyda spoke to her priest about her daughter changing into the goal of a hate marketing campaign. He inspired her to like her daughter, and to have her confirmed within the church.
In Might, AB will compete on the CIF California State Monitor and Area Championships in Clovis, California. Nereyda says she and her daughter are trying ahead to it.
“I hope that it has a positive impact, not just for my child, but for the future, for the future athletes,” Nereyda stated. “And I tell my baby, ‘I really think and I really hope you open doors for other kids to be able to come out and live happy, because I see my baby’s happy being herself.’”
All images by Jeremy Lindenfeld.
