Trans Teen Track Star In California Shuts Down Critics With Straightforward Message

This young athlete has something honest to say to those throwing hate her way

Warning: This story includes topics about discrimination against transgender people, which may be upsetting for some readers.

A transgender student-athlete who recently won a school track event has responded directly to the wave of criticism she’s been facing.

AB Hernandez, a transgender girl from California, stood proudly on the podium beside her fellow athletes after delivering an outstanding performance at the state’s high school track-and-field championship on May 31.

Hernandez, who is 16 years old and a member of the track team at Jurupa Valley High School in Southern California, secured the top spot in the triple jump. She earned a gold medal with a final distance of 42 feet 2 inches. She shared the first-place title with Kira Grant Hatcher, whose best jump was 40 feet 5 inches.

Before the competition took place, the California Interscholastic Federation made an important rule change. They decided that if any athlete lost to a transgender competitor, it wouldn’t impact their own ranking. This meant Hernandez’s participation wouldn’t take away placements or achievements from other girls in the competition.

The updated policy also made space for one more cisgender female athlete to compete in every event where Hernandez was scheduled to participate.

Even with this policy change designed to maintain fairness, Hernandez’s presence on the field has stirred a lot of debate in recent months. Many protesters have shown up at her meets, including right before this championship, speaking out against her involvement in the sport.

Now, as a junior in high school, Hernandez has decided to speak out, offering a direct and clear message to the people who’ve been criticizing her.

“It’s definitely crazy, I get a lot of hate comments, but I’m like, ‘I don’t care,'” she said in an interview with KCRA. “[I’m a] 16-year-old girl with a mad attitude. You think I’m going to care?”

She called out the adults who’ve been showing up to high school events just to protest her as being simply “weird.”

“It’s just weird at this point,” Hernandez said. While there were groups of people standing outside the gates to protest, she pointed out that inside the stadium, the atmosphere felt much more supportive and positive.

“I wasn’t expecting any of it, to be honest. I was just expecting to go out there and compete alone, but the support was amazing,” she added.

“They really made my experience perfect. I will forever be grateful for them because they helped me get through the weekend.”

During the varsity high jump final, Hernandez once again shared the spotlight. She tied with two other athletes—Jillene Wetteland and Lelanie Laruelle. Because of the new California policy, they all stood together on the podium as equals in the competition.

“I did what I wanted to do,” Hernandez said. “My performance was all I wanted to be good. So all this backlash … I performed my best, so that’s all I cared about.”

The protests erupted in response to the broader criticism surrounding how the federation has managed the participation of transgender athletes like Hernandez. Some of the strongest reactions came from political figures, including former President Donald Trump. He went as far as threatening to cut off funding to California because of its stance on inclusion in school sports.

Using his platform on Truth Social, Trump posted: “California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum [sic], continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS.'”

The President issued an order demanding that federal funding for California be “held back, maybe permanently” unless the state complied with his executive directive from February aimed at protecting women’s sports.

Earlier this year, he also clashed with Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, in a tense exchange over the issue. Trump claimed that the state was in violation of Title IX, a law that bans sex-based discrimination in education.

He warned that schools could lose out on about $250 million in federal funding, although the White House eventually released the funds following a legal dispute over the matter.

Last month, the Justice Department revealed it was launching an investigation to see whether California’s School Success and Opportunity Act, which allows transgender students to participate in girls’ sports, goes against Title IX regulations.