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The conflict over biological males in women’s sports in California returned to the national spotlight this weekend. The flames of debate were fanned by a large-scale protest at a state high school athletic meet, then by a controversial outcome at a girls’ track meet the next day.
The state has become the nation’s largest epicenter and the target of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly violating Title IX of its transgender eligibility policies.
Inside the state, many residents continued to oppose these policies. That dissent culminated in a flashpoint Friday when dozens of female athletes and their families gathered outside a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) board meeting in Long Beach to protest.
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“Save Girls Sports” activists hold a rally outside a CIF board meeting in Long Beach, Calif., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Courtesy of Sophia Lorey)
Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the California Family Council, told PK Press Club Digital that this was their largest gathering yet, as they have held several in recent years.
Local California girls who have been harmed by male competitors in their sports took to the podium to denounce the CIF for failing to change its policies. A total of 16 speakers, including high school athletes, family members, politicians and activists, spoke at the rally.
Since then, many speeches have gone viral.
Former Jurupa Valley High School student-athlete Hadeel Hazameh had to graduate early after speaking out in the fall against a trans teammate on her track and field and volleyball teams.
Arroyo Grande High School student-athlete Celeste Duyst recalled an alleged experience of a biological trans male athlete watching her and other girls change in the locker room.
California GOP state assembly members Kate Sanchez and David Tangipa also showed up to give speeches in support of the girls.
Meanwhile, Democratic state Assembly member Josh Lowenthal also showed up to film a Facebook video mocking the protesters, saying the Republicans in attendance “don’t really care about women.”
“We all know they don’t really care about women,” Lowenthal said.
During the meeting, demonstrators on both sides addressed the topic with emotion. But Lorey told PK Press Club Digital that council members at no point addressed the issue of protecting women’s sports, or even made eye contact with speakers.
Singer and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Tish Hyman delivered a vociferous speech condemning CIF board members.
“Martin Luther King did not march so that these trans people, or whatever they are, could use our civil rights to force trans drugs on children!” Hyman shouted.
Crean Lutheran High School student Reese Hogan went viral last spring when she stood on top of a podium at a CIF playoff competition, just after the trans athlete who finished above her left. Hogan spoke at the meeting about having to compete repeatedly with the male athlete.
“On May 4, 2024, May 10, 2025, May 17, 2025, May 30, 2025, and January 31, 2026, I participated in competitions where I lost to a male athlete competing in a girls’ track and field competition. These are not isolated incidents, these are repeated moments where female athletes have been directly affected by policies that ignore reality,” Hogan said.
Speakers in support of trans athletes in women’s sports, including a local trans student, also gave speeches to council members, which Lorey said were not addressed.
‘HORRIBLE’ MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE EMBRACED IN SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL
Taylor Starling speaks at ‘Save Girls Sports’ rally in California (Courtesy of the Families Council of California)
“This national focus only brings extreme surveillance and harm to these students,” the trans student said. “I have been the subject of extreme protests myself, sometimes hundreds of students were protesting against me.”
ACLU of Southern California attorney Kristen Burzynski argued that “sports should be for all children” at the meeting.
“This is not about fairness. This is not about protecting girls. This is about making life harder for young people who are already marginalized,” Burzynski said. “Transgender students aren’t trying to cheat or steal trophies. They just want to play with their friends.”
The day after the meeting, a prominent transgender athlete from Jurupa Valley High School won first place in the girls’ triple jump at the VS California Winter Championships. The athlete also won second place in the girls’ long jump.
PK Press Club Digital did not disclose the name of the trans athlete in this specific story at the request of the athlete’s mother when we reached out for comment. However, previously the mother and the athlete spoke out publicly and the athlete’s name is widely reported and known.
News of the trans athlete’s victory spread quickly on social media.
Activists across the country have spoken out to further condemn California leaders for allowing such incidents to occur.
New York Times bestselling author Dr. Naomi Wolfe shared news of the incident on X, writing, “I can’t take it anymore.”
British Olympic medalist Sharron Davies wrote in response to the news about
Former American gymnast and co-founder of XX-XY Athletics, Jennifer Sey, wrote: “How many girls did this boy knock off the podium?”
PK Press Club Digital has reached out to CIF and the Jurupa Unified School District for comment.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said during a podcast conversation with Charlie Kirk last March that he believed men participating in women’s sports was “deeply unfair,” but he had taken no action or even verbal initiative to address the situation.
In September, Newsom’s office provided a statement to PK Press Club Digital in response to complaints from athletes and parents, suggesting that responsibility lies with the CIF, CDE and the state Legislature, but not him.
“The CIF is an independent, nonprofit organization that governs high school sports. The California Department of Education is a separate constitutional office. Neither is under the authority of the governor. The CIF and CDE have said they follow existing state law — a law that was passed in 2013 and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (not Newsom) and in line with 21 other states. So that the law changes, the Legislature should send a bill to the governor This is not the case,” the statement said.
On April 1, the California State Legislature blocked two invoices This would overturn the current law that allows men to play women’s sports.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to release an upcoming memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery,” on February 24, 2026. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
All Democrats voted against it, with Rep. Rick Chavez Zbur saying one of the bills “really reminds me of what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We’re moving toward autocracy in this country. In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted and excluded from public life.”
Zbur said this in the presence of a descendant of a Holocaust survivor, who had to excuse himself from the room, according to Sánchez.
“She got up and left because she was so disgusted by the comparison,” Sanchez told PK Press Club Digital.
Newsom made no public statements at the time to encourage any of his Democratic colleagues to support the bill. At this point, Newsom had already made his first public statements challenging the “fairness” of trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, in the first episode of his podcast after being pressed on the issue by the late Charlie Kirk.
Newsom’s office provided a transcript of an apparent exchange between him and a reporter on April 2, the day after the bills were blocked, in which the governor said he “paid no attention” to the bills. He added that he was concerned about the recovery from the wildfires in Los Angeles.
“Well, I didn’t pay any attention to the committee yesterday. I literally spent most of the day talking about LA fire recovery with our teams. And some progress has been made there, by the way, but we’re starting to run into some of these abundance conversations around authorization that are already starting to take shape, where most of my attention was yesterday,” Newsom said when asked about the failed vote and the overall issue men in women’s sports.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced 19 new investigations into educational institutions suspected of violating Title IX.
Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD) to Riverside, California was at the top of the investigations announced by ED on January 14.
Meanwhile, one of the state’s largest public universities, San Jose State, was determined to have violated Title IX in its handling of transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming from 2022-24. SJSU receives the majority of its operating budget through state appropriations, with state funding making up about 52% of its total budget, by the university.
The university has an ultimatum to comply with a series of resolution conditions or it could face a loss of federal funding and a possible lawsuit.
