Despite online outrage, the California state track meet was mostly just a track meet defector.com/despite-onli…
— Defector (@defector.com) June 2, 2025 at 8:53 PM
The always insightful Diana Moskovitz, at Defector – “Despite Online Outrage, The California State Track Meet Was Mostly Just A Track Meet”:
Jurupa Valley High School’s AB Hernandez won first place in girls high jump and triple jump on Saturday night at the California Interscholastic Federation’s State Track & Field Championships. She also took second place in girls long jump, making it overall a great performance for the high school junior. After each win, Hernandez took the podium, received her medal, and smiled for photos along with her fellow competitors. She looked happy, because most people do after they win. As the sun sunk lower in the sky and the late afternoon turned into night, it would look to a casual observer watching on a livestream, which I did, like a typical high school track meet: The national anthem was played, there was a reminder about good sportsmanship, high school athletes competed in various disciplines, upcoming events were called out on the loudspeaker, and parents and friends cheered in the stands…
Though Hernandez has competed for years with the support of her local community, when two women began making noise online complaining about her being allowed to compete, they got a lot of attention and eventually caught Donald Trump’s eye. He issued a statement Tuesday about Hernandez, filled with inaccuracies, saying she was unbeatable (she has lost before) and had won everything (again, she has lost before). That same day, CIF issued its own statement, saying it would launch a pilot program to allow any cisgender female athlete who missed out on qualifying due to a transgender female athlete to compete anyway. Those new rules were also why on Saturday, every time Hernandez won a medal, she had to share the podium with someone else as a co-medalist.
The new rules also did nothing to assuage the people dead set on stopping Hernandez… Even though Hernandez had followed all the CIF rules in place, that did little to stop the anti-trans sentiments. On Friday, during qualifications, an airplane flew over the stadium carrying a banner that read “No boys in girls sports!”
The same reporter who got the video of the banner, Haley Sawyer, estimated the number of protestors there Friday at “roughly 10.”
You read that right—10. California is the largest state by population in the entire country with nearly 40 million people. Sure, some people have to work, some people are busy with childcare, or too frail to travel, or they’re students who have to study. But the math is the math. Out of a state with nearly 40 million people, just about 10 were so angry about Hernandez competing that they showed up at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Fresno County. That’s the same Fresno County that has an estimated population of more than 1 million, is nearly equidistant to the state’s two biggest metro areas, and is easily accessible by car…
What those railing against Hernandez know is that in today’s decentralized information ecosystem, anger online wins and so their yelling must be covered, even though few protestors came. Meanwhile, the single biggest source of complaints about discrimination to the U.S. Department of Education are from disabled students who said they had been denied help they needed or felt mistreated, not people complaining about trans athletes. Data also shows the biggest danger posed to all high school athletes, regardless of gender, is dying of sudden cardiac arrest, not competing against trans athletes. Having emergency action plans and installing AEDs in high schools would save more lives, but little is said about this online compared to the trans athlete furor.
Despite it all, the actual athletes seemed pretty chill and normal on Saturday as I monitored from the live stream and watched the press coverage roll in. They are athletes, after all, and they know how to block out noise. It’s all smiles in the Associated Press photos. Wilson High School senior Loren Webster, who came in first in the long jump, told the Times as much, saying, “It wasn’t any other person I was worried about. I knew what I was capable of. I can’t control the uncontrollable.” Long Beach Poly High School senior Jillene Wetteland, who also took first in the high jump, told the Chronicle, “I love both of the people I tied with.” And River City High School senior Brooke White, who came in second on the long jump, said to the same reporter that it was an honor to share her podium with Hernandez…
Baud
Good for her.
ETA: And the people who didn’t hate her.
Ruckus
I love to see jackoffs yelling and screaming about their petty bullshit. As an ex mental health counselor it gives me I’m not sure what, to know that there will always be a need for mental health counselors. They may never talk to people that have to have a cow over petty bullshit because those people almost always think that they are 100% right about everything, when they were the people that were almost always 100% wrong about everything. They just want to live in a different world than the one in front of them. Sort of like men playing with dolls at 40-60 years old, because dolls are cool.
Sister Golden Bear
Thank you Anne.
The SF Chronicle also had good coverage, I’ll see if I can gift link it.
satby
Congratulations AB Hernandez! Great performance in spite all the hostility she was subjected to.
Dan B
It’s amazing that there is such continued fear and hatred. But the percentage of people who are bumfuck crazy remains small, fortunately.
cmorenc
Hernandez is a junior in high school and therefore not yet of adult age. To what extent has she physically transitioned, as opposed to just so far taking puberty blockers or else merely just self-identifying as a female? The article states that Hernandez has the support of her local community. Nothing is stated about whether Hernandez uses the M or F locker room to train or for meets, but leaves us to assume that if it’s the latter, her F teammates and their parents and community are cool with that, even if Hernandez hasn’t physically transitioned yet (beyond perhaps puberty blockers).
More power to her for the courage to compete even when confronted with the hate of creeps.
rikyrah
Good for her👏🏾👏🏾
NotMax
Everything he touches withers (WaPo link).
Lyrebird
Go AB!
And cheers for your fellow competitors with a little class,
with many many times more class and maturity than the creep in the White House!
Sure Lurkalot
The very end of the Defector article:
Apparently, some people think AB Hernandez can jump so high and far because “she’s a man”. Obviously ANY 17 y.o. guy could win any event at a GIRLZ track meet, I mean that’s just common sense, amirite?
They have no understanding that AB worked damn hard to excel. Brooke White knows what it takes, outclasses the haters.
prostratedragon
VoteVets:
Jackie
@NotMax: 36% isn’t enough.
Tim in SF
Hey! I’ve been watching you jackals post photos of your irises and I felt like a failure because I have a dozen or so planted out front on the sidewalk and NOT ONE gave me any kind of bloom. LO AND BEHOLD, one of them bloomed today! And it’s spectacular! And just in time for pride! Figures I would get the gay irises.
Anyhoo, this one came from Schreiner’s Iris Gardens up in Oregon, which I visited last year.
(PS: if you FB friend me, tell me you’re from here or I’ll delete the request)
Old School
prostratedragon
@Jackie: From the article it seems that much of that 36% is due to a fall in theater subscriptions, though every category is down. Theater is where the 🤡 interference has been most pernicious so far, though not having the Ailey company on the dance card is too silly to be anything but racially motivated. A big problem for the resident companies is staying viable through what is hopefully just a temporary trying time. Orchestras and opera choruses need to work together.
Sister Golden Bear
Should be a gift link.
Trans athlete embraced as California track and field champion by peers while adult activists duel
A reminder that out 40 million CA residents only 10 anti-trans bigots showed up — and that’s literally more than the number high school trans athletes in the entire state.
prostratedragon
Jackie
@Sister Golden Bear:
I read that article earlier today and thought of you. I was sooo happy she received such warm congratulations from her teammates and community! That’s what truly matters, and is so telling.
Gloria DryGarden
@Tim in SF: I just have one iris blooming. 3’ tall, pink. I posted it on Facebook
NotMax
Did someone say Iris?
;)
Geminid
I would love to listen in on this meeting. From Amichai Stein of the Jerusalem Post:
I guess I’ll have to settle for reports. There are a lot of eyes on this one.
Baud
@prostratedragon:
Sweet.
WaterGirl
@Tim in SF: Wowser, that’s a spectacular iris!~
“Figures I would get the gay iris” was my first laugh of the day. Much appreciated.
But seriously, you’re from San Fransisco, based on reputation, would you expect anything less? :-)