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The California state senator Sabrina Cervantes honored the transgender athlete of the AB Hernandez high school after Hernandez won several female state titles in late May.
The Trans athlete, who participates in the secondary school Jurupa Valley in the county of Riverside, in California, was the subject of a ceremony at the Jurupa municipal council on Friday where the athlete was recognized for having won first place in the height jump of the girls and the triple jump on May 31.
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Transgender athlete Ab Hernandez de Jurupa Valley participates in the height jump of girls during the CIF state athletics at the Veterans Memorial Stadium on May 30, 2025, in Clovis, California. (Images Kirby Lee / Getty)
“We just want to take a moment this evening to recognize Ab Hernandez for their grain, their passion and their dedication to this sport,” said Cervantes.
“I am so proud to know that you continue to prevail despite everything the noise, and you focus on your goals and your dreams and your aspirations. We know how difficult it is to reach this level, to be an athlete at this level, and therefore, again, your dedication and your passion are an inspiration for so.”
No female athlete who did not participate in the girls’ athletics championship was honored on Friday during the event.
Hernandez’s participation in the state finals in May has become the objective of an immense political debate after President Donald Trump published on Truth Social in the days preceding the competition warning the State not to allow Trans athletes to compete.
Representative Kevin Kiley is thinking about the impact of California’s trans conflict in the middle of the state battle with Trump
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has made a series of rules in the days preceding the event to ensure that all the women who finished behind a biological man would be appropriately rewarded a medal according to their placement among the competitors.
During medal ceremonies for the three events, the competitors who finished a place behind Hernandez had to stand next to the trans athlete on the podium.
Ab Hernandez shares first place on the Triple Jump podium at the California Track and Field State Championship with a competitor. (Thanks to Beth Bourne)
Even with the rule changes, the presence of Hernandez in the girls’ competition aroused controversy and a strong presence of protest throughout the weekend. A plane piloting a banner that said “no boys in girls sports!” Passed on the stadium.
Contradictory demonstrations tormented the championship with pro-LGBTQ demonstrators and pro-feminine demonstrators who express signs, flags and clothes expressing their respective messaging.
The conflict between the demonstrators at some point has become violent, when an LGBTQ protester struck the local conservative activist Josh Fulfer with a flag pole. The police files obtained by PK Press Club Digital show that a man was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, obstructing an official and a vandalism.
The United States Ministry of Justice has launched legal action against CIF and California Department of Education for having allegedly raped title IX with its policies which allow men to participate in sports for girls.
The Doj trial requests an injunction on state policy allowing men to compete with women in sport.
California’s policies “eviscerate equal sporting possibilities for girls … They also require that girls share intimate spaces, such as changing rooms, with boys, causing a hostile educational environment that refuses the educational opportunities of girls,” said the trial.
It will be the second legal battle that the DoJ is fighting over on the issue, having launched a similar against Maine in April.
