Trump says California will pay for ignoring order, letting male win girls’ track title

The federal government will penalize California for allowing transgender athlete AB Hernandez to win the California Interscholastic Federation girls’ outdoor track state championships in the high jump and triple jump last weekend.

“A Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “As Governor Gavin Newscum fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed!!!”

It comes after the president signed an executive order in February directing federal agencies to withhold funding from states and schools that let males compete in girls’ sports.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, sent the CIF and its member schools a letter this week giving them a June 9 deadline to bring athletic policies into compliance with the administration.

The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits sex-based discrimination, Dhillon wrote, and depriving female athletes of athletic opportunities based on their sex violates this clause.

“Scientific evidence shows that upsetting the historical status quo and forcing girls to compete against males would deprive them of athletic opportunities and benefits because of their sex,” the letter also said. “Therefore, you cannot implement a policy allowing males to compete alongside girls, because such a policy would deprive girls of athletic opportunities and benefits based solely on their biological sex, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.”

California is one of two states where a male transgender athlete won a girls’ track state title last weekend. Veronica Garcia also won the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Class 2A state championship in the 400-meter race.

Both states face investigations from the Trump administration for letting males compete in the girls’ division.

Hernandez, the California state champion, has called those who think males have an unfair advantage in women’s sports “idiotic.”

“All I thought was, I don’t think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash. ‘She can’t be beat because she’s biologically male.’ Now you have no proof that I can’t be beat,” the transgender athlete told Capital and Main last month.

However, an NBC News poll released in April found 75% of Americans oppose letting male trans athletes compete in women’s sports; only 25% support it.