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The conflict over biological males in girls sports in California came back into the national spotlight this weekend. The flames of debate were fanned by a large-scale protest at a state high school sports meet, and then a controversial result at a girls’ track and field meet the next day.
The state has become the nation’s biggest epicenter for the issue, and the target of a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly violating Title IX for its transgender eligibility policies.
Internally, many of the state’s residents have continued to distance themselves from the state for these policies. That disagreement culminated in a flashpoint Friday when dozens of female athletes and their families gathered outside a California Interscholatic Federation (CIF) council meeting in Long Beach to protest.
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‘Save Girls Sports’ activists hold a rally outside a CIF council meeting in Long Beach, California on Friday, February 6, 2026. (Courtesy of Sophia Lorey)
California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey told Pakinomist Digital that it was their largest convention to date, as they have held several in recent years.
Local girls in California who have been influenced by male competitors in their sports took to the podium to speak out against the CIF for not changing its policy. A total of 16 speakers, consisting of high school athletes, family members, politicians and activists spoke at the rally.
Many of the speeches have since gone viral.
Former Jurupa Valley High School student Hadeel Hazameh had to graduate early after speaking out against a trans teammate on her track and field and volleyball teams this fall.
Arroyo Grande High School student athlete Celeste Duyst recalled an alleged experience of a biologically male trans 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 assemblyman Josh Lowenthal also showed up to film a Facebook video mocking the protesters, claiming that the Republicans in attendance “really don’t care about women.”
“We all know they actually don’t care about women,” Lowenthal said.
Inside the meeting, protesters on both sides of the issue spoke emotionally on the issue. But Lorey told Pakinomist Digital that at no point did council members address the issue of protecting girls’ sports or even make eye contact with the speakers.
Singer and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Tish Hyman gave a raucous speech condemning CIF council members.
“Martin Luther King didn’t march so these trans people, or whatever they are, can use our civil rights to push trans medicine on children!” Hyman shouted.
Crean Lutheran High School student Reese Hogan went viral last spring when she stepped into first place on a medal podium at a CIF postseason meet, just after the trans athlete who finished above her stepped down. Hogan spoke at the meeting about having to repeatedly compete against the male athlete.
“On May 4, 2024, May 10, 2025, May 17, 2025, May 30, 2025, and January 31, 2026, I participated in meets where I lost to a male athlete competing in a girl’s track and field. These are not where they are directly isolated to women. They are affected by policies that ignore reality,” Hogan said.
Speakers in support of trans athletes in girls’ sports, including a local trans student, also gave speeches to council members that Lorey said were unaddressed.
‘TERRIFYING’ MOMENTS UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS EXPERIENCED AS THEY WENT INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL
Taylor Starling speaks at a “Save Girls Sports” rally in California (Courtesy of the California Family Council)
“This national focus only brings extreme scrutiny and harm to these students,” the trans student said. “I myself was subjected to extreme protest, sometimes hundreds of students protested against me.”
ACLU of Southern California attorney Kristen Burzynski argued that “sports should be for all kids,” at the meeting.
“This is not about justice. This is not about protecting girls. This is about making life harder for young people who are already being pushed to the edge,” Burzynski said. “Transgender students aren’t trying to cheat or steal trophies. They just want to play with their friends.”
The day after the meet, 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.
Pakinomist Digital is not disclosing the name of the trans athlete in this specific story at the request of the athlete’s mother when we reached out for comment. But in the past, the mother and the athlete have spoken out publicly, and the athlete’s name is widely discussed 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’s leadership for enabling such incidents.
New York Times bestselling author Dr. Naomi Wolfe shared the news of the incident on X, writing “I just can’t take it anymore.”
Great Britain’s Olympic medallist, Sharron Davies, wrote in response to the news on X: “Remember 95% of 15/16 boys world records are faster than elite female records. This is just cheating.”
Former USA gymnast and XX-XY Athletics co-founder Jennifer Sey wrote: “How many girls has this one boy pushed off the podium?”
Pakinomist Digital has reached out to CIF and the Jurupa Unified School District for comment.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a podcast conversation with Charlie Kirk last March that he believed men competing in girls’ sports is “deeply unfair,” but he has taken no action or even verbal initiative to address the situation.
In September, Newsom’s office issued a statement to Pakinomist Digital in response to the complaints from athletes and parents suggesting that responsibility falls on the CIF, CDE and the state legislature, but not on him.
“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 governor’s authority. CIF and CDE have stated that they are following existing state law — a law passed in 2013 and signed by Governor Jerry Brown (not Newsom) and in line with 21 other states whose law needs to be changed in order for Do to be changed. The bill they don’t have, read the statement.
On April 1, the California state legislature blocked two bills it would change the current law, which allows men in girls’ sports.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is set 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, and Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur argued that 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, excluded from public life.”
Zbur said this while in the presence of a descendant of a Holocaust survivor who, according to Sanchez, had to excuse himself from the chamber.
“She got up and left because she was just so disgusted by the comparison,” Sanchez told Pakinomist Digital.
Newsom made no public statement at the time urging any of his fellow Democrats to support the bill. By then, Newsom had already made his first public statements disputing the “fairness” of trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, on the first episode of his podcast after he was 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 was “not aware” of the bills. He added that he was preoccupied with wildfire recovery in Los Angeles.
“Well, I wasn’t paying attention to the committee yesterday. I literally spent most of the day talking about LA firefighting with our team. And progress is being made there, by the way, but we’re starting to run into some of the ‘abundance’ conversations around permitting that are already starting to take shape where most of my focus was yesterday,” Newsom said when asked about the issue of the girls’ sports failure.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced 19 new investigations into educational entities suspected of violating Title IX.
Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD) i Riverside, California was at the very top of investigations that the ED announced 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 from state grants, with state funding accounting for approximately 52% of its total budget, per the university.
The university has an ultimatum to comply with a series of decision conditions, or it could face a loss of federal funding and a potential lawsuit itself.
