Pali High School rests across the street from homes destroyed in the Palisades fire in Pacific Palisades on January 7, 2025.
Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Mom Lisa Ward lives in Topanga, between Palisades and Malibu, where the LA wildfires are raging.
Her family was horrified when they saw TV images of their local high school burning to the ground.
While her 17-year-old won't get the graduation he hoped for, his priority is to help homeless friends.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lisa Ward, 59, a stay at home mom from Topanga, California. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Our family is sheltering in Topanga, a canyon region between Palisades and Malibu that is being ravaged by California wildfires.
The generator turns on and off at random, but we're glued to the local TV news whenever we can be. On Tuesday — when the fires struck our area — my oldest son, Luc, 19, jumped up from the couch.
"That's the high school," he shouted, pointing to the footage of the flames and billowing smoke consuming the campus. "There's the locker building, the baseball field, and the football stadium — they're all burning."
We were in shock. We'd been in the stadium for Luc's graduation from Palisades Charter High School in 2023 and were proudly looking forward to sitting in the bleachers for his 17-year-old brother Cole's graduation in June.
Our youngest, Theo, 15, began as a freshman there last September.
It was terrible to see the campus ablaze, though we knew it wasn't as horrific as watching someone's home burn down. A few minutes earlier, Luc's girlfriend, Nikola, 19, had spotted her condo building on fire around a mile away from the school.
She sobbed in my arms. We later found out she'd lost everything except the bag of clothes she'd grabbed before evacuating. The branches of the trees were in flames as she ran to the car.
My son asked about his graduation and prom
Cole, our senior, was on a snowboarding trip with some classmates in Mammoth Mountain, a five-hour drive from Topanga. They found out about what happened to the high school on social media.
"I won't get my graduation ceremony at Pali High, will I?" Cole asked me. "Or prom?"
"No," I replied as gently as I could. I don't think you will." He had gone to his brother's graduation, and it had been an enormous thing. Cole is a linebacker on the school football team, which plays a huge role in the celebration.
Lisa Ward and her family outside the teens' high school, which was destroyed by the California wildfires.
Courtesy of Lisa Ward
Some people in his cohort have already had their pictures taken for the senior graduating yearbook in their formal dresses and suits. But this year's book can't be finished. The photo lab where they do it has gone.
I could tell Cole was upset, but he's a kid who puts things into perspective. It's best not to have a school than a home. Of the six kids who went to Mammoth Mountain, only two of them — including Cole — still had homes. We've told them that there'll always be a bed for them here as long as we're not evacuated.
Everyone is on edge as we worry about our houses. We haven't really had a chance to think about what classes will look like this year.
But Cole and Theo have been told they will start online schooling before the high school figures out how to relocate about 3,000 kids to other places.
The kids can't really process the events
Remote learning during the pandemic was a nightmare for everyone, particularly Theo, who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was younger. We didn't get through a single day without tears. The social isolation also affected the kids.
As for the here and now, they can't absorb what's going on. When you watch the fires on the news, the images are so shocking that they don't seem real. I can see it in their faces. "My darlings," I told them. "I don't think the human brain can process this because so much has gone in such a short space of time."
I'm a big communicator, even when the boys don't like it. Sometimes, I'll talk and hear nothing back, but I don't stop. I'm constantly checking in on them to tell them that I love them.
California State Assemblymember Kate Sanchez announced on Monday that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports.
Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect. But California has had a state law in effect since 2014 that has enabled trans athletes to participate in women's and girls' sports, and it even requires public institutions to protect trans athletes at the expense of biological female competitors.
"Young women who have spent years training and sacrificing to compete at the highest level are now forced to compete against individuals with undeniable biological advantages. It’s not just unfair – it’s disheartening and dangerous," Sanchez said in a statement announcing the bill.
California's law, AB 1266, which has been in effect since 2014, gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
California's Code of Regulations section 4910(k) defines gender as: "A person’s actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person’s perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person’s sex at birth."
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Bylaw 300.D. mirrors the Education Code, stating, "All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records."
These current laws in the Golden Start have resulted in multiple scandals and national controversies involving trans athletes in women's sports in 2024 alone.
Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is currently embroiled in one of the most contentious local controversies on the issue.
A recent school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls' cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team alleges that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas simply because they say "Save Girls Sports."
The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete recently told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told "transgenders have more rights than cisgender[s]" by school administrators when they protested the athlete's participation.
Stone Ridge Christian High School's girls' volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.
A transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.
At the college level, San Jose State university's volleyball team was hampered by, arguably, the biggest scandal involving transgenderism in women's sports in recent history in 2024.
SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser is engaged in multiple lawsuits against the university, the Mountain West conference and the NCAA, alleging the school had her share a team, changing spaces and even bedrooms with teammate Blaire Fleming without ever informing her or other players that Fleming was a biological male.
The team was the target of national attention this past season amid the controversy, as President-elect Trump even called out Fleming for how hard the trans athlete spiked the ball at an opposing player during a Fox News town hall event in October.
The team saw eight matches forfeited amid the scandal, including the semifinal round of the Mountain West Tournament after Boise State refused to face the Spartans for the third time. Slusser, Fleming and the rest of the team all ended up playing in the championship game, where they lost to Colorado State to end their season and the two players' respective college careers.
Slusser has told Fox News Digital that the entire experience involving Fleming was "traumatizing."
"This season has been so traumatizing that I don't even have a proudest moment," Slusser said.
Trump has pledged to instill a full-on ban on trans athletes in women's sports to the near unanimous support of Republican allies.
The new Republican-controlled Congress will hear arguments on a bill that would prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women's sports in its first 100 days after voting yes on a new rules package Friday.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., celebrated Friday's vote and will reintroduce the bill included in the rules package, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital he is also reintroducing that measure in the Senate, and with the approval of leadership, it's expected to get a floor vote.
EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Starling, a high school cross-country runner at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, lost her spot on the varsity team earlier this season to a transgender transfer student.
Multiple parents of students at Martin Luther King have told Fox News Digital that the school has allowed the trans athlete to compete on the varsity cross-country team despite missing practices for academic reasons. These parents include Starling's father, longtime firefighter Ryan Starling, and construction subcontractor Dan Slavin, father to Kaitlyn, another runner on the team.
"The fact that the male athlete was able to compete while attending less than 25% of the practices is not fair. In what era, on what team, in what sport can you barely show up to practice and still compete?" Dan Slavin told Fox News Digital. "It is not fair, and it is not right to those who work hard every day for the entire season."
Both families are currently engaged in a lawsuit against the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD).
Ryan Starling told Fox News Digital that the loss of his daughter's varsity spot disrupted his entire family emotionally, as cross-country played a pivotal role in her life. And then when his daughter and other girls on the team confronted their school administrators about it, he claims they were told "transgenders have more rights than cisgenders."
"It's been told multiple times to not just Taylor, but her sister," Ryan Starling said, adding that Taylor is one of three triplets, and all three are active on varsity sports teams. "All the administrators at Martin Luther King have stated this comment, and the Title IX coordinator for the Riverside Unified School District has stated ‘that as a Cisgender girl, they do not have the same rights as a transgender girl' to multiple girls, not just our daughters, but multiple girls on campus."
An RUSD spokesperson declined to give official comment on Ryan Starling's claims in a conversation with Fox News Digital.
The RUSD previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital insisting that its handling of the situation has been in accordance with California state law.
"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the District is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression, and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values which include equity and well-being," the statement said.
In California, a law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
California Code of Regulations section 4910(k) defines gender as: "A person’s actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person’s perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person’s sex at birth."
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Bylaw 300.D. mirrors the Education Code, stating: "All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records."
The RUSD also placed blame for its handling of the situation on officials in Washington, D.C., and California's state capital, Sacramento.
"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies (including officials in Washington D.C. and Sacramento)," their statement read.
But Starling, Slavin, other students and their families have been ready to do far more than simply send a letter to their local legislators.
Taylor and Kaitlyn ignited a viral trend in their communities when they showed to school in November wearing shirts that read "Save Girls Sports." Martin Luther King administrators allegedly confronted the girls about the shirts, comparing them to swastikas, according to their lawsuit against the district.
Then, more and more students began to show up each week wearing the shirts, as the school had to alter its dress code and start placing students in detention for wearing them. This didn't stop the shirts from spreading and growing. It became a weekly ritual for hundreds of students every Wednesday to show up wearing the shirts support of the girls and their messaging, and many of them created viral social media posts on it.
In early December, the school administrators gave up on their efforts to discipline students for wearing the shirts. Sources told Fox News Digital that more than 400 students have shown up wearing the shirts at a time, and students at other schools in the district have started to wear them to class.
While this was happening, Taylor was also taking steps to reclaim her varsity spot, according to her father. Ryan Starling says it was a "transformative" experience and motivated her both athletically and academically. She has since earned her spot back on the varsity team, and her father says she even beat the trans athlete in a recent competition by more than three seconds.
"She has had so much support from her friends, where her friends were wearing all the t-shirts," he said.
The Starling family haven't received only positive attention, as Ryan Starling says there have been multiple concerning negative messages and even a threat. The family had to delay their recent family vacation to accommodate Taylor's safety for a trip to the state competition, as her parents didn't feel comfortable allowing her to travel alone.
"There was some negative stuff online, there was some threats of violence towards our girls, there was different stuff, and we just didn't feel comfortable leaving Taylor for a day and a half and having her fly out a day later so she could run at state, so we chose to stay all together as a family and support Taylor, and then we delayed our vacation to the first of the year," Ryan Starling said.
The situation came to a potential turning point during a five-hour RUSD school board meeting on Dec. 19. Outside the office, there were competing protests between activists and parents wearing the "Save Girls Sports" t-shirts, and LGBTQ activists.
Sources have told Fox News Digital that the LGBTQ activists at the event were harassing the protesters on the other side, and even disrupted a women's prayer group during a prayer circle prior to the meeting.
Then inside the meeting, parents and opposing activists gave impassioned speeches on their thoughts on the situation, with multiple speakers yelling in hysterical tones. But Ryan Starling, who stayed for the whole meeting, got a glimmer of hope toward the end of the meeting. He says that after it was over, a newly-inducted board member spoke to the girls who were there to protest the trans athlete, and that the new board member suggested that their problem would be solved once President-elect Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
"Don't worry girls, we have your back, wait till January 20th," the new board member said, according to Ryan Starling.
Trump has pledged to ban trans athletes from women's and girls' sports, and the new Republican-controlled congress has indicated an intention to do so as well.
The House rules package for the 119th Congress was posted this week, and the first step in its order of business is a bill that would bring about Title IX revisions that would only allow athletes to compete in the gender category that they were assigned at birth.
However, California and Governor Gavin Newsom have vowed to resist the incoming Trump administration.
"Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you," the line echoed in the ears of millions of American parents and children. The ad often played during the commercial breaks of NFL, college football and MLB postseason games.
The phrase was launched by the Trump campaign in September. It was repeated in ads, not just for Trump, but candidates down-ballot on the Republican ticket. It has been hailed as the most effective campaign slogan of the entire 2024 cycle.
The ad presented imagery of transgender people in designer clothing, while highlighting Harris’ previous support for legislation that would allow trans athletes to compete against girls and women in sports.
The Trump transition team provided an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, vowing to make good on its campaign stance on this issue.
"The Trump Administration will not be deterred by the Biden Administration’s dirty tricks. President Trump will use every lever of power to reverse the damage Joe Biden has done to our country and deliver on his promises to the American people, including protecting women and girls by keeping men out of women’s sports," Trump’s forthcoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Vice President Kamala Harris never addressed the issue head-on during her campaign. Democratic allies backpedaled on it. Then people went to the polls, and data suggests the issue mattered too much for one side to simply ignore.
A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms," as important to them.
And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."
"The American people saw an administration committed to putting men in women’s private spaces, so this kind of leadership and promise hit straight to the hearts of voters. The conclusive election results, as well as exit polling, certainly affirms that," CWA legislative strategist Macy Petty told Fox News Digital.
Trump’s campaign seized on the issue in the homestretch of the election cycle. He boasted about his stance and his pledge to ban trans athletes in women’s sports at nearly every rally in the final month.
And in the background, a brewing cultural movement stirred in nearly every corner of the country, focused on this singular issue. It was fueled by women’s rights groups and young female athletes who felt as though they were being dismissed by an unfair system – a system most common in blue states.
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), which was founded in 2023, emerged as a leading advocacy group in the protection of women athletes from trans inclusion this year. It has spearheaded viral conversations on the issue, and has taken the lead in multiple lawsuits focused on the protection of women against trans athletes.
But many of these advocates wish it didn't have to be a political issue.
"This shouldn’t be a partisan issue – it’s a matter of truth, biology, and justice. Elected officials who abandon their responsibility to defend women and girls in athletics will face political consequences, as evidenced by last month’s election," ICONS co-founder Marshi Smith told Fox News Digital.
Still, for Trump and the Republican Party, it was a movement that provided a sudden surge in support among young college-educated women. Biden’s 35-point lead among young women over Trump in 2020 shrunk to a 24-point lead for Harris this year, per an NBC News exit poll.
It was an issue that helped re-shape the electorate.
Before and after the end of the election, multiple Democrat congressional representatives have spoken out against the party’s platform on trans-in-sports issues. Rep. Seth Moulton D-Mass., and Rep. Colin Allred D-Texas, are just two of the most prominent examples. Liberal media figures, including HBO’s Bill Maher, have preached backpedaling on the issue too.
Allred and Moulton previously endorsed legislation that would allow trans athletes to compete as women, including the Equality Act and Transgender Bill of Rights.
But then Allred ran his own TV ads dispelling his support for "boys in girls’ sports" after the Ted Cruz campaign used it as one of Allred’s weak points to defend Cruz’s Senate seat.
And Moulton repeatedly condemned Democrat support for trans inclusion after the election. His comments sparked a massive pro-trans rally outside his Salem office on Nov. 17.
Salem city councilman Kyle Davis was a key organizer for that rally.
Davis, a lifelong Democrat and LGBTQ activist, has vowed to help campaign against Moulton in the 2026 midterms. Davis will throw his support behind Massachusetts state Rep. Danny Cruz to primary Moulton in two years.
"I was incredibly disappointed," Davis told Fox News Digital.
"[We] were looking toward Seth Moulton and other Democrat figures to kind of reaffirm their support for us."
Davis, a member of the LGBTQ community, says the other Democrats he has associated with have no plans to tolerate the key figures in their party running away from their support for trans inclusion. That includes President Biden, whose Department of Education withdrew its support for a proposed rule change that would have outlawed states from banning trans athletes in girls’ sports on Dec. 20.
"I think it’s disgraceful," Davis said of Biden’s withdrawal of the proposed rule. "To see, not just our congressmen, but also our president on his way out ending in this rollback of trans rights is completely inexcusable and disgraceful."
Davis is confident, based on conversations with Democrats in his state, that large factions of voters in his party will continue to prioritize protecting trans rights, including trans inclusion in sports. He wants to see his party's future candidates publicly support transgenders, unlike Harris in 2024.
"We’re going to remain firm in what has always been core to the foundation of the Democratic Party, we stand up for marginalized groups, I don’t think that’s negotiable," Davis said.
The country, by state laws, is split right down the middle on the issue.
Currently, 25 states have laws in place to restrict or ban trans inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports, while the other 25 don't have any such laws, and some, like California, have laws in place to protect trans athletes.
But even the states with laws in place to restrict it have been under siege by Democratic-appointed federal judges.
Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia, who were each appointed during the Obama administration, issued rulings this year that enabled biological males to play on high school girls' soccer and tennis teams. McCafferty issued an order that allowed two transgender athletes to compete in New Hampshire, while Lauck ruled that an 11-year-old transgender tennis player was allowed to compete against girls the same age in Virginia.
Many similar incidents have gone on to earn intense national attention in 2024.
Trump made one of his strongest pitches to women voters during a Fox News all-women town hall event with Harris Faulkner in October.
During that interview, Trump shifted the national spotlight onto a situation in northern California when he made reference to San Jose State volleyball player Blaire Fleming. Trump pointed out an incident where Fleming spiked the ball at an opposing player on San Diego State during a match on Oct. 10.
"I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head," Trump said during the interview "But other people, even in volleyball, they’ve been permanently, I mean, they’ve been really hurt badly. Women playing men. But you don’t have to do the volleyball. We stop it. We stop it. We absolutely stop it. You can’t have it."
San Diego State shortly after put out a statement clarifying that Fleming’s spike did not strike its player in the head, but shoulder.
But the damage was done at that point. A controversy that had already garnered some national attention steamrolled into mainstream political discussion. San Jose State’s season became a regular talking point on national political talk shows and at Trump campaign rallies leading up to the election.
Spartans co-captain Brooke Slusser became involved in two lawsuits throughout the season over Fleming’s presence on the team. Slusser alleged that she had been made to share sleeping and changing spaces with Fleming in their first year as teammates together in 2023, but was never informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Slusser has told Fox News Digital that the entire experience involving Fleming was "traumatizing."
"This season has been so traumatizing that I don't even have a proudest moment," Slusser said.
And just days before the election, Slusser spoke out in favor of Trump’s proposed ban on trans athletes in women’s sports – the same ban he proposed after claiming Fleming "slammed" a young woman in the head with a volleyball.
"I think it's completely necessary," Slusser previously said of Trump's proposed ban. "I don't think this should have ever been allowed to be a thing and legal and allowed to happen. And I think so many people know it's not right and, for some reason, they still decide to support it, for whatever other reasons they have, and I think in the back of everyone's heads, you know it's not right. I mean, if you're having to hide something for so long just like SJSU did, you have to know it's not right."
Slusser, and many other young women who have been affected by this, laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the party that allowed it to happen.
"There is more so one side of a political party that kind of agrees with what I'm doing compared to the other, but then there's still so many people on both sides of the political parties that agree with this," Slusser said. "It's engaged in politics, but it has nothing to do with politics at the end of the day. One side is fighting it, and the other side has decided not to."
Weeks before that, San Jose State’s scandal-ridden team was scheduled to make a road trip to the key battleground state for an Oct. 26 match at the University of Nevada, Reno. Nevada players were well aware of the situation involving their upcoming opponent. And those players wanted no part in the contest against Fleming, so much so that they pleaded with their athletic department to forfeit the match. Four other teams had forfeited vs. SJSU up to that point in the season.
But the university declined their players’ request, initially. The program put out a statement insisting it would play the match, but players wouldn't be punished for opting out. Then the players went public with their grievances over the disagreement, thrusting Nevada into its own controversy in the weeks leading up to the match. Tulsi Gabbard even made a trip to one of their games for a photo-op.
When Fox News Digital pressed Nevada about why it wouldn’t forfeit, it wasted no time throwing Democratic lawmakers responsible under the bus. A university spokesperson cited an amendment in the Nevada Constitution, which outlawed the canceling of an athletic event to avoid facing a transgender person. It was an amendment added in 2022 by state Democrats.
"As a state university, a forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression could constitute per se discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution," the university's statement said.
So instead, the university let the situation play out for weeks, while the people of Nevada watched. They watched the young women on the team agonize, publicly slamming the university and administrators while praising conservatives for pledging to fight back.
Nevada captain Sia Liilii took on the role of representing her teammates, just as Slusser had for hers, in speaking out against the protocols that were preventing the team from canceling the match.
In an op-ed by Liillii and teammate Sierra Bernard published on Fox News Digital, they too came out in support for Trump.
"President Trump has our back, and this election is more important than politics but about leaders who will be standing with women on and off the court, defending our right to compete safely and fairly," Liilii and Bernard wrote. "As proud female athletes, we will continue to fight for fairness on the court and in women’s sports. But it shouldn’t be a fight we have to take on alone."
Eventually, Nevada had to cancel the match on Oct. 25, just one day before it was scheduled to be played, and less than two weeks before the election. The university said it canceled because it wouldn’t have enough players to compete, which it claimed did not make it liable for violation under the Nevada constitution.
But Liiliii and her teammates, as well as Slusser, who had to continue playing with Fleming that season, were just getting started in their activism.
And they soon had support.
Slusser and Liilii were just a handful of women’s athletes to sign NIL endorsement deals with the startup athleticwear brand "XX-XY Athletics" in 2024.
The brand, founded just this March by 1986 U.S. women's gymnastics all-around national champion Jennifer Sey, merchandises athletic gear that promotes "standing up for the protection of women’s sports."
Sey told Fox News Digital that her business has hit seven figures in sales in under eight months. Sey has achieved this despite frequent backlash and harassment from critics, and even having her brand completely banned from TikTok in June.
"Woke capitalism has been rejected and normie capitalism is back – outstanding product and uplifting marketing, underpinned by financial discipline," Sey said.
And Sey is actively expanding the industry of athletic merchandise with anti-trans, pro-women messaging. Her company recently launched the first NIL program exclusively for female athletes who believe that women's sports are for women only.
The program, called "GXME CHXNGERs," has already signed seven college athletes: Heather Arnett (softball, Pittsburgh State University), Sara Casebolt (track, University of Idaho), Ainsley Erzen (soccer and track, University of Arkansas) and Emma Vorpagel (track, Northern Illinois University) joined the three volleyball athletes.
So now, an entire generation of young athletes, currently in college and college hopefuls, will have the opportunity to make NIL money from those same messages, if they choose to pursue it.
And as the culture movement grows, so too could the revenue.
The NCAA and even the International Olympics Committee (IOC) haven’t been able to appease women’s rights groups who want trans athlete bans. But one major women’s sports organization has proven it’s possible with almost no repercussions.
The LPGA issued a sweeping rule to ban post-puberty biological males from pro women's golf competition in the first week of December. It is a move that has been widely accepted by the general golf community.
Pro women's golfer Amy Olson even said in an interview with Fox News that women's golfers were "thrilled" about the rule change.
But the idea of such a ban caused legitimate fear for the backlash a year earlier for one major women’s golf tour owner.
Venture capitalist Stuart McKinnon purchased and took control of the NXXT Golf Tour in January 2023. Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson was already a participant of that tour when McKinnon bought it.
A year later, when considering whether to ban Davidson, McKinnon said he had to have a hard conversation with his family, warning them of any potential hateful backlash for it. McKinnon also sent out a poll to the tour’s players asking what they wanted. McKinnon said the poll had to be anonymous so players wouldn’t have to fear retaliation, but almost all the responses were "overwhelmingly" in favor of banning Davidson.
"I sat down with my family, I sat down with all of my daughters and said ‘We’re in this together or not. We potentially will get a lot of backlash, a lot of hatred, people will be against us for this,' and we decided we needed to do what we felt was the right thing, and we did it," McKinnon said during an ICONS X spaces on Dec. 5.
McKinnon pulled the trigger on banning Davidson. Then, he says the decision did not prompt the backlash he warned his daughters about.
"We didn't get sued yet, and we didn't get the negative backlash, it was minimal at best, our lawyers were astonished how much little backlash there was, and it was a lot of love and support," McKinnon said.
McKinnon’s ban of Davidson set a precedent that the rest of the LPGA chose to follow in December, one month after Trump’s election victory.
The Harris campaign and other Democrats attempted to dismiss the issue of trans athletes in sports as "remote." So too has the president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, who has repeatedly pointed out that there are fewer than 10 transgender athletes in the NCAA, out of 510,000 in total.
But no matter how remote they claim the issue to be, it has happened enough times to resonate with a sizable number of Americans. Even if those Americans haven’t had to encounter it themselves.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little was one of many Republican governors to take direct action on the issue this year. In August, he passed an executive order to enforce the "Defending Women’s Sports Act" in his state, which required schools to take steps to prevent biological males from competing with girls.
Little previously told Fox News Digital that there wasn’t a single instance of trans inclusion that occurred in his state, which prompted this executive order. But that didn't stop the people of his state from supporting a ban anyway. Little also cited former college swimmer Riley Gaines as an influential figure in his decision to pass the order.
Still, Idaho could always fall victim to the ruling of a federal judge even with their ban in place, just as the schools in New Hampshire and Virginia have.
Idaho falls under the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is shared with California, Oregon and Washington.
"You always worry about it," Little said. "We are in the Ninth Circuit, Idaho is, which, there is a lot of judges out of California, but that's a problem that we meet with on all kinds of fronts."
California has become a national epicenter for the issue, not just with San Jose State, but several examples at the high school level.
Stone Ridge Christian High School's girls' volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team. Gaines later held a ceremony with Stone Ridge Christian to celebrate their decision to forfeit.
A transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.
In response to complaints of boos and harassment, athletic director Steve Sell of Aragon High School in San Mateo, California, intervened. In his capacity as co-chair of the Peninsula Athletic League Athletic Directors, Sell informed Notre Dame that there could be consequences, according to ABC 7.
Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is currently embroiled in one of the most contentious local controversies on the issue. A recent school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls' cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team allege that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas, simply because they say "Save Girls Sports."
And then, hundreds and hundreds of students at the high school began wearing the shirts every week, multiple sources told Fox News Digital. The school even revised its dress code to outlaw the shirts, and put students in detention for wearing them. But after so many of them began to wear the shirts, the school gave up on its efforts to continue enforcing the dress code.
And the shirts have since become a local social media phenomenon in the community, as multiple protesting parents were seen wearing them at the Dec. 19 meeting.
Dan Slavin, the father of one of the girls involved in the lawsuit, told Fox News Digital this issue may cause his family to take an active hand in campaigning in the 2026 California gubernatorial election.
"If nothing changes here in the next couple of years, it absolutely should be part of the next election," he said.
"I want to see policies change," Slavin added. "I keep saying the system is broken, and it's doing more harm than good. And I want to see people understand that and admit that. Sometimes, we make mistakes, and it's OK to admit that, but we need to make changes and get out of those mistakes we make."
And well beyond the borders of California, it's an issue that has garnered scrutiny on a global level, especially in 2024.
The United Nations released study findings saying that nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of the podium because they have been beaten out by transgender athletes.
The study, titled "Violence against women and girls in sports," said that more than 600 athletes did not medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, totaling over 890 medals, according to information obtained up to March 30.
"The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males," the report said.
And with the next Olympics set to take place in the U.S. in 2028, the final year of Trump's second term, the world will look to see which athletes are allowed to compete in the women's category while on American soil.
And as much as states have tried to wield their autonomy on the issue in recent years, Trump's return could signal wider executive action on it, especially after a Biden administration that has made attempts to act on it as well.
On Jan. 20, 2021, just hours after President Biden assumed office, he issued an executive order on "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation."
This order included a section that read, "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports."
It was just the first in many steps taken by the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers at the congressional and state level that enabled a sudden wave of trans athletes to compete as girls and women in the U.S. during the current president's term.
Since then, Biden has proposed the rule that would outlaw states banning trans athletes, a proposal his administration has since withdrawn, and issued a sweeping Title IX re-write in April. The Supreme Court struck down a Biden emergency request to enforce its policies in 10 states that were trying to contest it. And then Harris didn't give many answers on the subject during her campaign.
So now Trump is set to take office himself on Jan. 20 with a promise to keep from his famous campaign ad.
A contentious school board meeting in Riverside, California, drew large opposing protests outside the district office Thursday night. One side argued to "Save Girls Sports," wearing T-shirts with that message, while the other side came equipped with transgender pride flags and signs.
Members of a women's prayer group that attended the protests on the "Save Girls Sports" side has alleged the pro-transgender side harassed them during the event and interrupted their attempts at public speaking and filming content.
The prayer group, Young Women for America (YWA)'s Inland Empire chapter in California, alleged pro-transgender activists showered them with insults Thursday in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
"Members of the pro-LGBTQ groups started heckling and harassing the people in line who were speaking in opposition of their values. Some of these adult protesters were even coming up to the young girls that were going to be speaking and were yelling at them close to their face," YWA Inland Empire Chapter President Tori Hitchcock alleged.
Hitchcock claims the harassment forced them to move their prayer circle away from the offices.
"Seeing how quick these protesters were wanting to make a scene, we decided that we needed to wait and move our prayer rally away from the main lot for safety reasons. We were able to find a spot that was removed but overlooking the event, which allowed us to really visualize what we were praying for. We spent time also praying over the young female athletes who were there to speak. Many of them were the students who were ostracized by their school," Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock did not name an specific individuals in her harassment allegations.
Other witnesses present Thursday have provided their accounts of the events to Fox News Digital.
Julianne Fleischer, an attorney for the religious liberties legal firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom, was at the protests Thursday to conduct a pre-meeting press conference that included a parent whose family had been affected by a transgender athlete competing on a girls sports team.
"It was initially peaceful, but the LGBTQ activists became increasingly more vocal and were trying to stir up agitation by heckling people," Fleischer said.
Fleischer also claims the pro-trans activists were using megaphones to drown out the sound of normal conversation.
"The LGBTQ activists were screaming and blowing their megaphones so as to prevent SGS supporters from participating in media interviews. We moved media away from the LGBTQ activists to a more secluded area so the activists couldn’t interfere with SGS supporters’ ability to talk to the media," Fleischer added.
California Family Council Vice President Greg Burt told Fox News Digital he also witnessed the pro-trans activists actively interrupting the pro-girls protests and interviews.
"They had bullhorns, and every time someone used a camera to do a video, they would jump behind and make noise," Burt said.
One anonymous parent told Fox News Digital about witnessing a child being bombarded with vulgar insults by pro-trans protesters after the meeting.
"My 16-year old son and a few others were standing outside after speaking when a group of the LGBTQ community intentionally walked by them pointing at each one of them saying, ‘FU FU FU,’" the anonymous parent said.
Footage reviewed by Fox News Digital showed a sizable pro-LGBTQ presence at the event. The limited footage reviewed showed the protesters standing calmly. Multiple accounts have suggested the pro-LGBTQ protesters outnumbered the "Save Girls Sports" protesters.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) for verification but has not received a response.
Thursday's RUSD board meeting was anticipated nationally amid an ongoing controversy at Martin Luther King High School, which has since spread to other schools in the district. A transgender athlete on the girls cross-country team prompted students to wear the shirts that said "Save Girls Sports" in protest. But those students were punished by administrators, some with detention. A lawsuit filed by two girls cross-country runners alleges the school compared the T-shirts to swastikas.
But the student body responded in support of their biologically female classmates by wearing the shirts in droves of hundreds at a time. Many of the students posted photos on social media of them wearing the shirts together, and some were sitting in detention.
Eventually, the school stopped disciplining students after more than 400 Martin Luther King High School students showed up wearing the shirts Dec. 11.
Sources have told Fox News Digital students at Arlington High School, Riverside Polytechnical High School and Romona High School have also been seen wearing the shirts at their respective schools.
Ryan Starling, the father of a girl at the school who is involved in a lawsuit against the school, spoke at the press conference outside the district office Thursday. The lawsuit alleges Starling's daughter, Taylor, lost her varsity spot to a transgender athlete and that her T-shirt to express opposition to the athlete competing was compared to a swastika.
"It's just heartbreaking to see what my daughter has gone through this season," Starling said.
"This is unfair. This is completely unfair. It breaks my heart as a father to see my daughter go through this and have it stripped away from her, have her come up to me and just hug me. And I can't do anything about it. So, it's just heartbreaking."
The father of the other girl involved in the lawsuit, Dan Slavin, previously told Fox News Digital he "couldn't even digest" hearing that his daughter's shirt was compared to a swastika.
"I didn't even know how to digest that right away," Slavin said. "There were no words. I still can't even digest it to this day. It's unfathomable. It's strange. It's weird. I'm sure there were better illustrations they could use instead of that one."
In a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, RUSD said it has allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
"It is important to remember that RUSD is bound to follow California law, which requires that students be 'permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,'" the statement said.
"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento."
California has had laws in effect to protect transgender athletes in women's sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effect, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
A school board meeting descended into a parade of competing hysterical rants between concerned parents and transgender activists on Thursday night amid a national controversy over a transgender athlete on the cross-country team.
The Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) held a board meeting at its office in Riverside, California, to address concerns over the student-athletes at Martin Luther King High School and students being punished for wearing shirts that read "Save Girls' Sports."
The meeting came after weeks of build-up as hundreds of students at Martin Luther King High School and other schools in the district wore the T-shirts against the school's wishes. Hundreds of students have rallied to wear the T-shirts every Wednesday, and many were placed in detention for wearing them, until the schools gave up on disciplining the students the week of Dec. 11.
Ahead of the meeting, competing protests between pro-transgender activists and "Save Girls' Sports" activists rallied outside the RUSD District Office.
Once the meeting began, speakers were invited to share their thoughts on the situation. Many of the parents who spoke out against the district for allowing the trans athlete to compete with girls came wearing the T-shirts themselves.
One of the first parents to speak out against the district for allowing trans inclusion was a mother identified only as Sandy R. The mother hysterically complained about her name being revealed to the pro-trans activists outside the assembly room. She feared being "doxxed" for her stances and said she intends to file a harassment complaint.
Sandy then lambasted the entire board for defying Title IX in favor of California State law.
Another parent pointed out that the school district's science curriculum even includes text books that teach the genetic differences between biological males and females. The mother brought out the school's ninth-grade biology textbook and read a passage that explained that males are born with the XY chromosomes while females are born with XX chromosomes.
She then held up photos of the students who were punished for wearing shirts that read "XX (does not equal) XY."
"This is what you did to students who wore the shirt I'm wearing tonight, for claiming a biological fact that's in your textbook, that's part of your curriculum. Are we going to put tape on the textbooks next? Is that what's going to happen, we're not going to teach science?" she yelled. "You are denying biological facts to not hurt someone's feelings, and that's not okay!"
The mother then referenced an allegation in a recent lawsuit filed by two of the school's girls' cross-country runners that the school compared their T-shirts to swastikas.
Another mother, who was only identified as Colleen, was already screaming before she approached the podium, criticizing the board for allowing pro-trans activists in the office to cheer for pro-trans sentiment, and she compared it to their handling of young males who want to transition to female sports for a competitive advantage.
"Your job is to teach these people self-control, and you're not doing that!" she yelled. "It's all about their self-esteem, and you're setting them up for failure! They're not going to have the world handed to them. The world's not going to adjust because ‘I can’t succeed in this sport, so now I'm going to join this sport because I can do better there. It's ridiculous! Do your job! Teach these children self-control before it's too late!"
Later, a mother named Maria Karillo began her speech by warning all children in the room to leave. She then recited sexually explicit lines from school-approved books available at RUSD middle schools to make a point, before lambasting the school for labeling the concerned parents as "agitators, MAGA disruptors."
"We are parents here who care for our children, and we are using our constitutional right to speak to you guys, the leaders of our community about our children's issues," she said. "I want to know why the teacher's union is sending us emails for calling us cruel."
One mother named Patty Clauda, who spoke in Spanish with the assistance of an English translator, began her tirade by mocking the school board for not knowing the difference between a man and a woman before expressing fear of girls having to share locker rooms with biological males.
"They are changing in front of men!" she said through the translator.
At the end of her tirade, Clauda abandoned use of her translator to speak in English directly to the board, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"What I actually find more concerning is that there are actual biological women standing in front of me, and you are not advocating for the young ladies in this school district, and you are allowing these young ladies to be mistreated, harassed and discriminated! You are creating a hostile environment for these children to get their education! Shame on all of you!" Clauda screamed.
Multiple concerned parents called for the resignation of Superintendent Renee Hill during their respective speeches.
At one point, a female student-athlete even got the chance to speak and became emotional as she expressed the fact that she, as a biological female, has no realistic chance to compete with biological males.
"In no universe will the most-dedicated woman beat the most-dedicated man," she said as she choked up.
However, pro-transgender activists were also given the opportunity to speak. Multiple speakers who expressed support for trans inclusion thanked the board for allowing the trans athlete to compete with girls and encouraged it to continue to enable and protect that athlete.
One trans activist event went so far as to make the false claim that the XY chromosome is disappearing from the human gene pool and that all humans will eventually be born with the XX chromosome.
Many of the pro-trans speeches were met with high-pitched cheers and the waiving of LGBTQ pride flags by those in attendance.
California has had laws in effect to protect transgender athletes in women's sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effect, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
In a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, RUSD said it has allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
"It is important to remember that RUSD is bound to follow California law which requires that students be 'permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,'" the statement said.
The school said those who are upset by it should direct their anger to state and federal lawmakers.
"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento," the statement said.
The Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) in California hosted a board meeting Thursday amid a controversy over a transgender cross country runner at Martin Luther King High School and students being reprimanded for protesting the athlete's participation.
The board meeting will address recent allegations in a lawsuit that school administrators compared "Save Girls' Sports" T-shirts to swastikas.
Protesters gathered outside the RUSD District Office, advocating for and against transgender inclusion.
Video footage of the meeting provided by parents to California Family Outreach Director Sophia Lorey showed a crowd of people hoisting the transgender pride flag and wearing shirts with similar colors.
Lorey told Fox News Digital there were a few people outside the venue wearing the "Save Girls' Sports" T-shirts, but they were outnumbered by the pro-transgender activists.
The California Family Council, alongside the religious rights law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom, held a press conference outside the district office ahead of the board meeting addressing the ongoing controversy.
Ryan Starling, the father of a girl at the school named Taylor who is involved in a lawsuit against the school, spoke at the press conference. The lawsuit alleges Taylor lost her varsity spot to a transgender athlete and that her T-shirt to express opposition to the athlete competing was compared to a swastika.
"It's just heartbreaking to see what my daughter has gone through this season," Starling said.
"This is unfair. This is completely unfair. It breaks my heart as a father to see my daughter go through this and have it stripped away from her, have her come up to me and just hug me. And I can't do anything about it. So, it's just heartbreaking."
An attorney representing Taylor in the lawsuit, Julianne Fleischer, previously told Fox News Digital the rhetoric from school administrators is "incredibly dangerous."
"When you have adults that compare a message ‘Save Girls' Sports’ that promotes equality, fairness, common sense — when you have adults that compare that message to a swastika, which represents the genocide of millions of Jews, really, there are no words. I don't know how you respond to that," Fleischer said.
Hundreds of students at Martin Luther King High School began to wear the T-shirts every Wednesday. The school responded by enacting a dress code that resulted in many of those students being sent to detention. But that didn't stop them. The students kept wearing the shirts weekly.
The school recently stopped enforcing its dress code for the shirts.
Sources have told Fox News officials at nearby Arlington High School, Riverside Polytechnical High School and Romona High School have also seen students wearing them.
In a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, RUSD said it has allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
"It is important to remember that RUSD is bound to follow California law, which requires that students be 'permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,'" the statement said.
"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento."
California has had laws in effect to protect transgender athletes in women's sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effect, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
EXCLUSIVE: Dan Slavin, a construction subcontractor in California, has parented his daughter Kaitlyn through an experience no one in their family expected this school year.
Over the summer, they got word Martin Luther King High School, where Kaitlyn competes in cross country, would be getting a new transfer student who would be competing on Kaitlyn's team. That student was a transgender athlete.
Slavin says he and other parents contacted the school about it immediately.
"We went in there with concerns about safety and locker room issues," Slavin told Fox News Digital. "They were very tight-lipped and quiet. They understood our concerns and said they were working on putting things in place for our children's safety, but not much. They just kind of sat there."
Slavin, a California native who also competed in cross country, as well as track and basketball, in high school, wanted his daughter to compete in sports to benefit from lessons in work ethic and teamwork.
But the idea of Kaitlyn having to share a locker room and field with a biological male made him "concerned."
California state law protects the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls and women's sports and requires public schools to comply with these protections. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been a staunch protector of these policies during his tenure and vetoed a bill that would require schools to notify athletes and their families when a transgender athlete is on their team.
Newsom signed nine LGBTQ+ rights bills into law within a matter of days in 2023, and this year he signed the Support Academic Future and Educators for Today’s Youth Act (SAFETY Act) into law, which bans teachers from notifying students and parents of a transgender student's biological sex.
"I'd love to sit down and have lunch with him to talk to him about this and see how that goes," Slavin said. "I would probably just tell him that I get you want everybody to feel included, but you're missing out on how many people it's actually affecting and hurting."
Slavin, his daughter and other girls on the team learned how those laws affect female athletes after the transgender athlete transferred in. Kaitlyn's teammate and co-captain, Taylor, lost her varsity spot to that athlete this season.
"It's been tough on her. She's been there with her teammates and her teammate's in tears," Slavin said. "She's been trying to balance out how to still love all people but also how to raise awareness.
"There isn't a hateful bone in her little body."
So Kaitlyn, Taylor and some of their other teammates decided to stand up against it as many other young female athletes across the country have this year. They did it by creating custom T-shirts that said "Save Girls Sports."
But when they showed up to the high school wearing those shirts, administrators allegedly scolded them over it and compared the shirts to swastikas, according to a lawsuit filed against the school by the families of the two girls.
"I didn't even know how to digest that right away," Slavin said. "There were no words. I still can't even digest it this day. It's unfathomable. It's strange. It's weird. I'm sure there were better illustrations they could use instead of that one."
The attorney representing Kaitlyn and Taylor in the lawsuit, Julianne Fleischer, told Fox News Digital the rhetoric from school administrators is "incredibly dangerous."
"When you have adults that compare a message ‘Save Girls Sports’ that promotes equality, fairness, common sense; when you have adults that compare that message to a swastika, which represents the genocide of millions of Jews, really, there are no words. I don't know how you respond to that," Fleischer said.
The administration's comparison and the subsequent lawsuit prompted other students to get involved.
Hundreds of students at Martin Luther King High School began to wear the T-shirts every Wednesday. The school responded by enacting a dress code that resulted in many of those students being sent to detention. But that didn't stop them. The students kept wearing the shirts weekly.
The school recently stopped enforcing its dress code on the shirts. Slavin said he saw around 400 students wearing them at Martin Luther King High School, and sources have told Fox News the surrounding schools of Arlington High School, Riverside Polytechnical High School and Romona High School have also seen their students wearing them.
For Slavin, who has seen his daughter win titles and MVP awards in her youth sports career, this movement is his proudest moment as the father of an athlete. But it's also come with some blowback from transgender inclusion activists on social media.
"The message gets conflicted as an attack on people, and it's not about that at all. We want all people to feel love, all people to feel included, but some people just don't see the common sense side of it," Slavin said.
But Slavin said that won't stop him and his family from continuing their activism on this issue. The Riverside Unified School District is holding a board meeting next Thursday, and parents are expected to attend and speak out against policies that have enabled transgender inclusion in girls' sports.
Beyond that, Slavin said his family may even use it as a new platform for political activism in the 2026 California gubernatorial election if the issue hasn't been resolved.
"If nothing changes here in the next couple of years, it absolutely should be part of the next election," he said.
"I want to see policies change," Slavin added. "I keep saying the system is broken, and it's doing more harm than good. And I want to see people understand that and admit that. Sometimes, we make mistakes, and it's OK to admit that, but we need to make changes and get out of those mistakes we make."
A California high school caved to a student uprising after hundreds of students showed up wearing T-shirts that read "Save Girls' Sports" to protest a trans athlete on the cross-country team, defying the school's latest dress code.
The school had previously put students in detention for wearing the shirts. But a source told Fox News Digital that the school did not dress-code students when they showed up wearing the shirts on Wednesday.
Parents of the school's students provided an update to California Family Council outreach director Sophia Lorey, claiming that administrators had a meeting Wednesday morning where faculty was instructed not to dress-code students, Lorey told Fox News Digital.
"Today students once again wore their ‘Save Girls Sports’ shirts," Lorey wrote to Fox News Digital. "According to the email sent out earlier this week from MLK HS Principal Leann Iacuone only the shirts that stated ‘XX=/XY’ should receive a dress code. Yet, as of now no student who is wearing that shirt today has received a dress code. I received information that there was a staff meeting today before school were the staff was told not to dress code."
Lorey added that students at neighboring schools have begun to wear the T-shirts as Martin Luther King's situation has garnered national attention. These schools include Arlington High School and Riverside Polytechnical High School, and Romona High School.
The students have worn the shirts every Wednesday, resulting in discipline by school administrators. But detention and dress code violations never shuttered their spirit.
Many students at the school have gone viral on social media by sharing details of the situation with photos and videos of them wearing the shirts. The student uprising came amid an ongoing lawsuit over two girls' cross-country runners who alleged their T-shirts were compared to swastikas by school administrators.
Another student athlete on the school's cross-country team, Rylee Morrow, brought more national attention to the situation when she gave an impassioned speech at a school board meeting in November in a clip that went viral due to her conveyed fears of having to share a locker room with a biological male.
Lorey commended the students for taking a stand and pushing the school district to withdraw its discipline on Wednesday.
"By wearing their ‘Save Girls Sports’ shirts, these young leaders are showing that they won’t back down in the face of pressure or opposition - even from their own administration. It’s not just about athletics—it’s about standing up for the integrity and rights of female athletes everywhere," Lorey wrote.
But anti-trans messaging isn't the only social media activity that has erupted from the school.
On Wednesday, a trans athlete at the school allegedly made a private post on Instagram lashing out against detractors who have questioned and opposed trans inclusion on the school's girls' cross-country team. Multiple sources, including Lorey, have confirmed the message was posted to the athlete's private Instagram story.
The athlete also allegedly expressed an intention to compete in girls' pole-vaulting and said that competing against male opponents resulted in disappointing finishes.
In a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) said it has allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must comply with California state law.
"It is important to remember that RUSD is bound to follow California law which requires that students be 'permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,'" the statement said.
"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the district is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values, which include equity and well-being."
The school said those who are upset by it should direct their anger to state and federal lawmakers.
"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento," the statement said.
California has had laws in effect to protect transgender athletes in women's sports since 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effect, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
Other high school and college students in California have expressed opposition to trans athletes in girls' sports.
The girls' volleyball team at Stone Ridge Christian High School in Merced was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament in November, but it forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete. Those girls were commended at a ceremony held by women's athletic rights activist Riley Gaines at their own high school on Dec. 4.
Meanwhile, another California transgender high school volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont and Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.
At the college level, San Jose State's volleyball team was at the center of a national media firestorm this season over the presence of a transgender athlete on the team and a teammate being involved in multiple lawsuits over the issue. The team saw eight of its matches forfeited, including a conference tournament match, amid the controversy, which only brought more national attention to the team as it made it all the way to the Mountain West championship game.
The state of Washington could be one of the first in the nation to introduce a third gender category for high school sports in order to prevent biological males from competing against girls.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) announced a proposal to create a separate open division for transgender athletes to compete in. One of the amendments proposes the creation of a girl's division and an open division in which athletes could participate, regardless of whether their gender identity matches their assigned sex at birth.
"In order to maintain fair and equitable competition, participation in girls' sports and girls' divisions of sports is restricted to students who were assigned female at birth. The purpose of this policy is to offer clarity with respect to the participation of trans and gender-diverse student-athletes. Additionally, this policy encourages a culture in which student-athletes can compete in a safe and supportive environment, free of discrimination," the proposal reads.
The state's high school athletes are currently allowed to compete based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex. The WIAA policy states that each athlete will participate in programs "consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed," and there are not even any medical or legal requirements. Bills that would prohibit transgender girls from participating in girls' and women's sports have been introduced but not passed.
Washington is one of 25 states in the U.S. to have laws in place to protect trans inclusion in girls' and women's sports.
The proposal comes weeks after a school board in the state voted to send a letter to the WIAA pleading for it to reconsider its current rules that allow trans athletes to compete against females.
The Central Valley School Board, which oversees schools in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, Washington, voted to send a message to the WIAA over the issues after much debate at a school board meeting.
The resolution, titled "Supporting Equity and Safety in Female Sports," claims that the entire board is comprised of female members who have either competed in athletics themselves or have daughters who competed in athletics.
One of the women, an unidentified current cross-country runner, shared her experience during the hearing.
"When I ran cross-country for Greenacres Middle School, a boy who was biologically male but identified as female competed on the girls' team," she said. "While I respect everyone's right to participate in sports, the situation made me question the fairness of competing of someone who had the physical advantage associated with male biology."
In May, a trans athlete competed in a girls' cross-country championship and won.
Veronica Garcia, who was previously known as Devina Brown and Donovan Brown, won the 400m heat race in the girl's division with a time of 55.59 seconds. The second-place runner finished at 58.83 seconds. In the finals, Garcia won with a time of 55.75 seconds, a full second ahead of the second-place runner who finished with 56.75.
The victory prompted outrage by women's rights activists, including former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines.
The idea of a third gender category in high school and college sports to accommodate trans athletes has been floated as opposition to trans inclusion has stirred outrage across the country over the last year. Deep-blue states like Washington, as well as Oregon and California, which also have laws in place to protect trans inclusion, have been considered the places where a third category makes the most sense due to the influx of trans athletes competing against females in those states.
Steve Garvey, the former California Senate candidate and Los Angeles Dodgers World Series champion, previously told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that he would support President-elect Trump's ban on trans athletes in girls' and women's sports, and that he believes trans athletes should compete against each other.
In Riverside, California, Martin Luther King High School is facing a student uprising over the issue after two cross-country runners wore T-shirts that read "Save Girls' Sports," in response to a trans athlete taking a varsity roster spot from a female athlete.
The two female athletes filed a lawsuit against the school, and another teammate gave an impassioned plea during a board meeting, which went viral on social media, to remove the trans athlete from the team. Now, hundreds of the school's students have committed to wearing the T-shirts every week.
Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Riverside, California, addressed a controversy involving a transgender athlete on its cross country team and a lawsuit by two girls on the team alleging their "Save Women's Sports" T-shirts were compared to swastikas by school administrators.
The school has faced criticism locally from its own students and nationally from women's athlete activists, including Riley Gaines and Jennifer Sey.
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) says it has allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must to comply with California state law. The school said those who are upset by it should direct their anger to state and federal lawmakers.
"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento," the statement said.
The statement also cited language in the California Education Code, California Code of Regulations and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) bylaws, all of which outlined protections for transgender athletes in public schools.
"It is important to remember that RUSD is bound to follow California law which requires that students be 'permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,'" the statement said.
"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the district is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values, which include equity and well-being."
The RUSD's statement did not address the controversy involving the "Save Women's Sports" T-shirts.
California has had state laws in effect to protect transgender athletes in women's sports dating back to 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effect, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
And Martin Luther King High School is not the first public institution to blame Democrat-authored state laws for a controversial dispute with student-athletes over sharing spaces with transgender athletes.
The University of Nevada, Reno dealt with a controversy with its women's volleyball players in October, when the athletes' request to forfeit a match against a team with a transgender athlete was initially rejected by the administration.
The players made their own public statements about intending to forfeit the match and held a press conference where they accused the university of trying to pressure them into playing. Team captain Sia Liilii alleged athletic department officials told the players they "didn't understand the science" of facing a transgender athlete.
The university provided a statement to Fox News Digital, outlining that it could not fulfill the player's wishes of forfeiting the match without violating Nevada state law. The state's constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections.
Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a Democrat from North Las Vegas who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law has helped transgender people maintain their identity.
"As a state university, a forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression could constitute per se discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution," the university's statement added.
The university ended up forfeiting the match one day before it was scheduled due to not having enough players to compete.
California and Nevada are not the only states that have faced controversy involving public school girls not wanting to face a transgender opponent in the past year.
Even states with laws in place to restrict transgender inclusion have had incidents of it happening due to decisions by liberal judges. New Hampshire and Virginia, both states with such laws in place, were affected in 2024.
Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia, both appointed during the Obama administration, each issued rulings this year that enabled biological males to play on high school girls soccer and tennis teams. McCafferty issued an order that allowed two transgender athletes to compete in New Hampshire, while Lauck ruled that an 11-year-old transgender tennis player was allowed to compete against girls the same age in Virginia.
The Biden administration issued a sweeping rule that clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions" in April. The administration insisted the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that it would ultimately put more biological men in women's sports.
The RUSD's message on Friday has given the district a chance to remind the public that it is at the mercy of the Democratic establishment on this topic.
Still, the students have fought back.
California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey revealed that more than 150 students have worn the T-shirts to school since the controversy started and alleged that students who refused to comply with the new dress code were forced to spend hours in the principal's office. Lorey says those students plan to keep doing this on a regular basis despite their school's new rule.
"I received those numbers from parents directly involved," Lorey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "I then have received word on social media that the students plan to continue to do this every Wednesday."
Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is the latest battleground in the ongoing national culture war over trans athletes in girls' sports.
Students at the school have gone viral on social media in recent weeks amid an ongoing lawsuit over two girls' cross country runners allegedly being told they can't wear t-shirts that read "Save Women's Sports." The two teenage girls heading the lawsuit allege their shirts were compared to swastikas by school administrators, while a trans athlete competes on their team and took a varsity spot from a female player.
Another student athlete on the school's cross-country team, Rylee Morrow, brought more national attention to the situation when she gave an impassioned speech at a school board meeting in November in a clip that went viral due to her conveyed fears of having to share a locker room with a biological male.
"Having a male on the team proposes genetic advantages," Morrow later said during an interview on Fox News, while lambasting her school for comparing the shirts to swastikas. "It was honestly disappointing in our staff at our school; that's a mass genocide, and to compare such a very broad term to such a horrible time in history is quite disappointing."
This past week, the situation appeared to escalate when students from the school appeared in a viral TikTok in which they said the school has instituted a new dress code to prevent students from wearing the shirts.
"When our school won't let a girl wear this shirt who lost her varsity spot for a biological male so everyone wears them and they try to not let us into school, dress code us and keep us out of class for voicing our opinion and supporting a friend. Crazy how the world works," a caption read.
The TikTok has since been deleted from the account, but it still circulates across X.
California Family Council outreach director Sophia Lorey revealed that more than 150 students have worn the t-shirts to school since the incident started, and alleged that students who refused to comply with the new dress code were forced to spend hours in the principal's office. Lorey says that those students plan to keep doing this on a regular basis despite their school's new rule.
"I received those numbers from parents directly involved," Lorey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "I then have received word on social media that the students plan to continue to do this every Wednesday."
Lorey added that she hopes this will lead more of the school's students to join the ongoing lawsuit.
"I’m deeply disappointed in the school administration for trampling on their First Amendment rights, issuing dress code violations and comparing ‘XX does not equal XY’ to wearing a swastika, simply because the students are standing up for biological reality, is disgusting. Schools should protect free speech, not punish students for defending what is right. I am looking forward to hopefully more students joining the lawsuit, and truth prevailing," Lorey said in an exclusive statement.
"Even if the school doesn’t like the message, this does not give them the ability to violate their students' First Amendment right. Earlier this year, I won my First Amendment right case, after a librarian silenced me for stating, ‘Men do not belong in women’s sports,’ and I believe we will see the same results here."
Former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines also spoke out about the situation and encouraged her followers in a post on X to reach out to the school to voice displeasure with the administration.
Julianne Fleischer, Legal Counsel at Advocates for Faith & Freedom, who is representing the two athletes involved in the lawsuit, appeared on Fox News with Morrow on Nov. 26 to speak out against the school for its stance on preventing the girls from wearing the shirts.
"They wore [the shirts] to their practice, and the athletic director told them that they needed to hide their shirt or change their shirts because that message, ‘Save Girls' Sports,’ creates a hostile environment," she explained.
The Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) provided a statement to Fox News Digital defending the decision to have the student in the school, but has not addressed its stance on the t-shirts. The RUSD also said the reason for this is because of the state laws in California in which public schools are obligated to protect trans athletes.
"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the District is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression, and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values which include equity and well-being," the statement read.
The sudden national culture movement to protect women's and girls' sports from trans inclusion has been just as much of a youth movement as it has a conservative movement since it picked up steam this year. High school students across New York reportedly planned a mass walkout event to protest trans inclusion in girls' sports back in October, according to The New York Post.
"It’s not right for boys to compete against girls in sports. It’s a huge disadvantage for girls," said Hannah Pompeo, a 16-year soccer player at Eden High School near Buffalo, ahead of the students' planned "Walk Off for Fairness Day."
California has been a particular hotbed for the movement and controversial instances involving trans inclusion this year, as the state has had laws in place to protect trans athletes that seek to compete against females since 2013.
Stone Ridge Christian High School, located in Merced, forfeited a state playoff volleyball game against a team that was said to have a biological male transgender athlete on its team. Stone Ridge Christian was commended for the decision and even held a ceremony with Gaines to celebrate the decision.
Another trans volleyball player at Half Moon Bay High School prompted the Catholic school Notre Dame Belmont to forfeit a match earlier this season, but they chose to play a rematch. That rematch reportedly included booing of the trans athlete. Notre Dame Belmont was then told it could face "consequences" for the decision of students to boo.
Meanwhile, one of the most polarizing national controversies involving trans athlete inclusion recently played out at San Jose State University this past volleyball season.
Trans player Blaire Fleming and female teammate Brooke Slusser were thrust into the controversy that garnered mainstream attention, and was even used as a campaign point in the recent presidential election, after Slusser filed two lawsuits alleging she had been made to share a bedroom and changing space with Fleming for an entire season without being told the player is a biological male.
The team saw eight of its matches forfeited, including a conference tournament match, amid the controversy, which only brought more national attention to the team as it made it all the way to the Mountain West championship game.
The issue of trans inclusion in girls' and women's sports became a massive political vulnerability for Democrats in the recent election. President-elect Trump pounced on the issue, declaring a stance in favor of a national ban on trans athletes in women's sports.
The opposition has fueled a massive culture movement, especially among young women in Democrat-controlled states with laws in place to enable trans athletes to compete against them.
The movement has become so powerful in recent months that it is now even the basis for a lucrative apparel brand, XX-XY Athletics, which has signed multiple female athletes who have endured the experience of competing against transgenders as brand ambassadors.
Former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines honored the Stone Ridge Christian High School girls volleyball team in California for forfeiting a playoff game that would have featured a trans athlete.
Gaines held a ceremony for the team at its own gymnasium and shared her own story about having to compete against and share a locker room with trans athlete Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championships.
"We knew having a man undressing next to us in the locker room, standing at six foot four, we knew that was wrong," Gaines said. "We knew the silencing that we were facing from our universities, our institutions, how really, they effectively silenced us, muzzled us. We knew all of that was wrong. But none of us, including myself, had the courage that these girls on this court today had."
Stone Ridge Christian High School, located in Merced, was set to play San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament back in November. However, Stone Ridge announced it would not play that game just before it was set to be played, citing the presence of a trans athlete on the team.
"At SRC, we believe God’s Word is authoritative and infallible. It is Truth. And as Genesis makes clear, God wonderfully and immutable created each person as male or female. We do not believe sex is changeable and we do not intend to participate in events that send a different message. We also have a duty and responsibility to care for the health and safety of our athletes. So after consulting with our students, coaches and staff, we have made the difficult decision to forfeit Saturday’s game. Standing for Biblical truth means more than the outcome of a game," the statement read.
The player who was referenced is reportedly a three-sport athlete who led San Francisco Waldorf to a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) North Coast Championship last season. The CIF enacted "gender identity participation" rules in 2013.
Transgender athletes in girls high school sports, and the subsequent opposition, have become a statewide issue in California this year.
Another trans volleyball player at Half Moon Bay High School prompted the Catholic school Notre Dame Belmont to forfeit a matchup earlier this season, but they chose to play the rematch. That rematch reportedly included booing of the trans athlete. Notre Dame Belmont was then told it could face "consequences" for the decision of students to boo.
A recent lawsuit by female athletes at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, has alleged that their "Save Girls Sports" T-shirts were likened to a swastika by school officials. The plaintiffs had worn the shirts after a transgender athlete, who had not consistently attended practices or met key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing one of the girls from her spot, the complaint alleged.
Gaines, at a Trump campaign rally on Oct. 23, shared her harrowing recollection of her experience being forced to share a locker room with Thomas.
"I could share the grotesque details of what it was like being forced to undress, inches away from a 6-foot-4 man who watched us strip down to nothing, while he did the same, exposing his fully-intact naked male body," Gaines said. "There are no words to describe the violation and the betrayal, the humiliation that we felt."
Gaines leads a lawsuit against the NCAA with other female athletes, accusing the governing body of violating their Title IX rights due to its policies on gender identity.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with Thomas at the 2022 championships in Atlanta. It documents a number of races they swam with Thomas, including the 200-yard final in which Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth but Thomas, not Gaines, was handed the fifth-place trophy.
Connor Kasin, a New York high school hockey player, has died after he suffered a "sudden medical event" during a game, his school said in a letter to parents. He was 17.
Massapequa High School sent a letter to faculty and students confirming the 12th-grader’s death. The incident occurred on Saturday night.
"It is heartbreaking to report that Connor did not survive. His passing is devastating to the Massapequa community, and we offer our deepest condolences to Connor's family and friends," the letter read, per News 12 Long Island.
Nassau County police said in a news release that first responders went to the Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center where Kasin had collapsed. Police said "civilians" began CPR until police and medical personnel arrived.
"So sad to learn of the passing of Connor Kasin, a 12th grade student from Massapequa who tragically passed away while playing in a charity hockey game," Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., wrote in a post on X.
"My thoughts and prayers are with Connor’s family & the entire Massapequa community as they mourn this terrible loss."
Kasin played for the Sharks Elite Youth Hockey team when the medical episode occurred.
"It is with a heavy heart the Sharks share the sudden passing of 18U defenseman, Connor Kasin. Please keep the Kasin family in your thoughts and prayers," the club said in a Facebook post.
School officials said grief counseling will be available to students this week.
A former track coach is in a fight to get his job back, saying the school district he was fired from violated his free speech, and a federal judge in the case may agree.
John Parks is taking a legal stand after allegedly being fired from Lake Oswego High School for sending a letter to Oregon state officials concerning laws related to transgender athletes.
The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) says students can compete based on their "consistently asserted gender identity."
Additionally, the OSAA rules state "once a transgender student has notified the student's school of their gender identity, the student shall be consistently treated as that gender for purposes of eligibility for athletics and activities, provided that if the student has tried out or participated in an activity, the student may not participate during that same season on a team of the other gender."
In May, Parks wrote a letter to the OSAA encouraging the state to adopt a transgender athlete policy similar to World Aquatics by creating an open division where "all sex and gender identities" are welcome to compete. He also sent letters to state Sen. Rob Wagner, including one after Oregon's state championships. In the letters, Parks argued that state's laws, as currently written, do a disservice to girls sports.
In a hearing on Friday, Parks' lawyer said the district's decision to fire Parks after the email was a "violation of his free speech," and he should "be restored to his job," according to Oregon Live.
U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon said during a hearing he believed the email "[fell] within protected speech made by a private citizen."
Parks is seeking a court order to return to his job as the school's track coach and a special education assistant while the legal case remains ongoing. The district, however, says he was not fired. It says his temporary contracts expired, and the school was not required to extend them.
Buck Dougherty, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement in July, "Coach Parks was retaliated against, falsely accused of discriminatory behavior, denied an appeal and fired — just for exercising his constitutional right to free speech as a private citizen."
A Lake Oswego School District spokesperson previously confirmed that Parks was no longer employed by the district. The school district stopped short of going into the circumstances surrounding Parks' departure.
Transgender runner Aayden Gallagher of McDaniel High School won the Oregon 6A 200-meter state title by two-tenths of a second and defeated one of Parks' runners in another race. Lake Oswego, with Parks coaching, won the team state championship.
Fox News' Lindsay Kornick, Ryan Gaydos, and Chantz Martin contributed to this report.
A girls' cross country runner at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, delivered an impassioned plea to her school board on Thursday amid an ongoing controversy over a trans athlete on her team.
The 16-year-old high school student, Kylie Morrow, addressed a recent lawsuit by her teammates alleging that their "Save Girls Sports" T-shirts were likened to a swastika by school officials. The plaintiffs had worn the shirts after a transgender athlete, who hadn’t consistently attended practices or met key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing one of the girls from her spot, the complaint alleged.
Athletic department school officials allegedly then forced the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a "hostile" environment and comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.
Morrow spoke at a Riverside Unified School District board meeting on Thursday, lambasting her school officials and the notion that trans athletes should be allowed to compete in women's sports.
"I'm constantly affected by the actions taken place this season, and I have been around the females, and just my team in general, who have felt almost silenced to speak out about it, because the whole LGBTQ is shoved down our throats!" Morrow said.
"We live in a society where it's almost impossible to speak out on it without facing repercussions."
Morrow said she had even approached the school's athletic director herself about the situation. She went on to passionately defend her teammates who filed the lawsuit amid comparisons of their messaging to swastikas.
"It feels as though that my school and the school district is choosing to support one person instead of the whole team," Morrow said. "To see the athletic director turn around and tell my teammates that their shirts that say, ‘Save girl's sports' be compared to a swastika, that is not okay. These girls feel silenced, they felt silenced, and when they finally did something to speak out against it . . . they were completely stabbed in the back."
Morrow concluded her testimony by expressing how "unsafe" the entire situation has made her feel as a girls' athlete being forced to share a locker room with a biological male.
"It is not okay that I have to be in position, and I have to see a male in booty shorts, and having to see that around me, as a 16-year-old girl I don't see that as a safe environment," Morrow said. "Going into a locker room and seeing males in there, I don't find that safe, I don't find going to the bathroom safe when there's guys in there. It's not okay. I'm a 16-year-old girl!"
The two girls who have filed the lawsuit, known as Kaitlyn and Taylor, previously told Fox News Digital how difficult the situation has been.
"My initial reaction was like, I was really surprised, because it was like, ‘Why is this happening to me?’" Taylor said. "There's a transgender student on the team. Why am I getting displaced when "I've worked so hard and gone to all of the practices, and this student has only attended a few of the practices."
The shock of having their shirts compared to swastikas was unexpected to them.
"It was definitely hard to hear because we're by no means trying to be hateful," Kaitlyn said. "We're just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in trying to raise awareness to a situation."
Martin Luther King High School is just one of many public education institutions in California that is currently embroiled in a controversy over a trans athlete on a girls' or women's sports team.
Stone Ridge Christian High School's girls' volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team last week.
A transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.
In response to complaints of boos and harassment, athletic director Steve Sell of Aragon High School in San Mateo, California, intervened. In his capacity as co-chair of the Peninsula Athletic League Athletic Directors, Sell informed Notre Dame that there could be consequences, according to ABC 7.
Meanwhile, at the college level, San Jose State's volleyball team has been at the center of a national media firestorm over the presence of a transgender athlete on the team and a teammate being involved in multiple lawsuits over the issue.
San Jose State women's co-captain Brooke Slusser has joined a lawsuit against the NCAA and filed her own lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and her own school alleging she was deceived about the natural birth sex of her teammate, Blaire Fleming, who is a biological male.
The two have continued to play together this season amid the ongoing controversy but have had seven matches on their schedule forfeited. San Jose State will compete in the Mountain West tournament, but a ruling from a Biden-appointed judge after an emergency hearing in Colorado on Thursday could prevent that from happening.
A Mountain West spokesperson said it is possible for San Jose State to win the championship if opponents forfeit upcoming tournament games in Las Vegas starting Nov. 27. But federal Judge Kato Crews will deliver a judgment on whether that plan will stand or not, or whether the team and transgender player may even compete.
A transgender volleyball player at a high school in northern California was reportedly booed and harassed during a match against a Catholic school Oct. 12, according to ABC 7.
In response, another school's athletic director reportedly told the Catholic school it could face "consequences" from the athletic conference.
The Oct. 12 match was between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School. Half Moon Bay rostered a transgender athlete on its girls team. The game was played at Aragon High School in San Mateo.
Notre Dame Belmont canceled a match earlier in the season between the two teams due to the transgender athlete.
In response to complaints of boos and harassment, Aragon's athletic director Steve Sell intervened. In his capacity as co-chair of the Peninsula Athletic League Athletic Directors, Sell informed Notre Dame there could be consequences, according to ABC 7.
Notre Dame Belmont responded with a letter to Sell, apologizing on behalf of those accused of booing. The letter also said the Catholic school will adhere to a policy of banning spectators who exhibit such behavior.
"We have enforced our long-held policy to ban spectators from future games (season and postseason) who harass any individual," the letter stated. "We truly regret and apologize for the inappropriate and unsporting behavior by members of the NBD community at this match. NBD is dedicated to ensuring incidents like this never happen again."
Transgender athletes in women's volleyball and subsequent opposition has become a statewide issue in California this year.
At the high school level, another girls volleyball team forfeited a state playoff match because its opponent "has a male athlete playing for their team," the school said.
Stone Ridge Christian High School, located in Merced, was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament. San Francisco Waldorf had a bye into the semifinals because it was the No. 1 seed in its bracket. But the Christian school forfeited in an announcement just before the match.
"As many of you know, our girls won on Wednesday and advanced to the state playoffs," the school said, via Max Preps. "Unfortunately, we were just informed that our opponent, San Francisco Waldorf, has a male athlete playing for their team.
"At SRC, we believe God’s Word is authoritative and infallible. It is Truth. And as Genesis makes clear, God wonderfully and immutably created each person as male or female. We do not believe sex is changeable, and we do not intend to participate in events that send a different message. We also have a duty and responsibility to care for the health and safety of our athletes.
"So, after consulting with our students, coaches and staff, we have made the difficult decision to forfeit Saturday’s game. Standing for Biblical truth means more than the outcome of a game."
The player who was referenced is reportedly a three-sport athlete who led San Francisco Waldorf to a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) North Coast Championship last season. The CIF enacted "gender identity participation" rules in 2013.
"All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity," the policy stated.
Meanwhile, at the college level, San Jose State's volleyball team has been at the center of a national media firestorm over the presence of a transgender athlete on the team and a teammate being involved in multiple lawsuits over the issue.
San Jose State women's co-captain Brooke Slusser has joined a lawsuit against the NCAA and filed her own lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference and her own school alleging she was deceived about the natural birth sex of her teammate, Blaire Fleming, who is a biological male.
The two have continued to play together this season amid the ongoing controversy but have had seven matches on their schedule forfeited. San Jose State will compete in the Mountain West tournament, but a ruling from a Biden-appointed judge after an emergency hearing in Colorado Thursday could prevent that from happening.
A Mountain West spokesperson said it is possible for San Jose State to win the championship if opponents forfeit upcoming tournament games in Las Vegas starting Nov. 27. But federal Judge Kato Crews will deliver a judgment on whether that plan will stand or not, or if the team and transgender player can even compete.
New Hampshire Judge Steven McAuliffe presided over a case involving parents in the state who wore pro-girl armbands at a high school girls soccer game that included a transgender athlete. During the case, McAuliffe pushed back on the parents for repeatedly referring to the athlete as a boy.
"You seem to go out of your way to suggest there’s no such thing as a trans girl," McAuliffe said during the hearing.
McAuliffe's federal judicial service dates back to 1992, when he was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush. On Thursday, McAuliffe heard arguments in a case in which plaintiffs Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote sued the Bow School District after being banned from school grounds for wearing the wristbands at their daughters' soccer game in September.
The wristbands said "XX" in reference to the natural female chromosomes. The "XX" logo has become an unspoken symbol of the ongoing legal and political battle against transgender inclusion in girls and women's sports across the country. Many consider it a women's rights phenomenon.
The no-trespass orders have since expired, but McAuliffe is deciding whether the plaintiffs should be allowed to wear the wristbands and carry signs at upcoming school events, including basketball games, swim meets and a music concert, while the case proceeds.
They wore the wristbands because another federal judge in New Hampshire, Landya McCafferty, who was appointed to her seat by President Obama in 2013, ruled two transgender athletes would be allowed to play on high school girls soccer teams, overruling a state law in place to prevent that from happening.
Fifteen-year-old Parker Tirrell, a transgender athlete, was allowed to compete for Plymouth Regional High School. In a lawsuit filed by Fellers and Foote, they alleged they were told by school officials to remove the armbands or they would have to leave the game.
Both of the fathers say the intention of the armband was not to protest Tirrell, but to support their own daughters in a game that featured a biological male.
McAuliffe questioned the notion that the wristbands were in support of their own daughters.
"Sometimes the message you think you’re sending might not be the message that is being sent," he said.
McAuliffe asked Foote whether it occurred to him that a transgender person might interpret the pink XX wristbands as an attempt to invalidate their existence.
"If he’s a trans female, pink might be a color he likes," Foote responded.
Transgender inclusion in girls' and women's sports emerged as a mainstream political issue in the last few years. Instances of athletes discovered to be male and then legally protected to continue playing have emerged in rapid succession since the start of the Biden administration.
This includes instances like those involving Tirrell in New Hampshire and others in Virginia and California. At the college level, a situation at San Jose State University involving a transgender volleyball player has prompted multiple lawsuits and a media firestorm. It became a talking point of Donald Trump's presidential campaign before his recent election win.
Trump and even his wife, Melania, who has admitted to disagreeing with Republicans on issues of LGBT rights, each announced they are opposed to letting biological males compete in girls and women's sports. Trump advocated for a blanket ban during a Fox News town hall event on the campaign trail.
Multiple states filed lawsuits and enacted their own laws to address the issue after the Biden-Harris administration issued a sweeping rule that clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions," in April.
The administration insisted the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that it would ultimately put more biological men in women's sports.
The Supreme Court then voted 5-4 in August to reject an emergency request by the Biden administration to enforce portions of that new rule after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general sued to block the Title IX changes in their own states.
During the most recent election cycle, multiple Democrats, including Texas Rep. Collin Allred backtracked on past support for transgender inclusion in women's sports.
That trend continued after the election when Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton spoke out against his party's stance and actions in enabling transgender inclusion in multiple interviews, inciting fierce backlash and even a massive pro-transgender rally outside his office.
Now, multiple judges like McAuliffe across the country are presiding over cases about the eligibility of transgender athletes in sports.
A shocker was reported in the college football recruitment world Thursday night, when Bryce Underwood, the No. 1 overall prospect by ESPN 300, flipped his commitment from LSU to Michigan.
Michigan was reportedly pulling out all the stops, and its checkbook, to land Underwood, the star quarterback for Belleville High School in the state.
The high school is a half hour away from Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
Underwood announced the news with a video on his Instagram story, captioning it "Hometown Hero."
The early signing period for high school athletes is less than two weeks away, making this a huge move for coach Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines.
Underwood is making history with this move to Michigan, becoming the highest-rated commitment in the program’s existence, not to mention Moore’s top recruit in his inaugural class.
Moore took over for Jim Harbaugh as Michigan’s head coach after the team’s national title run in 2023 when Harbaugh filled the Los Angeles Chargers’ head coach vacancy.
According to On3, Michigan was willing to offer Underwood $10.5 million in NIL money over four years, an unprecedented sum for a player who hasn’t played a college snap.
The report added earlier this month that LSU was hopeful Underwood would remain loyal to it after committing to the Tigers in January.
It’s unknown what Underwood’s NIL situation with the Wolverines is specifically, but it’s safe to say it played a factor in him staying put in his home state.
NIL money at these universities is changing the way recruiting is done, and since Underwood is a consensus No. 1 recruit, we're seeing how these programs can flex their financial muscle to land some of the best players in the country.
Michigan’s pursuit of Underwood ramped up in the last couple months, according to ESPN, and the decommitment of Carter Smith, a four-star recruit, created buzz that Underwood could be flipping.
Underwood can officially sign with Michigan Dec. 4, when he would become the first No. 1 overall recruit since Rashan Gary signed with the Wolverines in 2016.
EXCLUSIVE: Two high school cross-country runners and their families are suing a California school district, alleging their "Save Girls Sports" T-shirts were likened to a swastika.
Plaintiffs Kaitlyn and Taylor, two athletes at Martin Luther King High School in ninth and eleventh grade, respectively, wore T-shirts bearing the messages "Save Girls’ Sports" and "It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY."
The girls wore the shirts after a transgender athlete, who didn’t consistently attend practices or meet key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing Taylor from her spot, the complaint alleged.
"My initial reaction was like, I was really surprised, because it was like, why is this happening to me?" Taylor told Fox News Digital. "There's a transgender student on the team. Why am I getting displaced when I worked so hard and gone to all of the practices, and this student has only attended a few of the practices."
Athletic department school officials allegedly forced the students to remove or conceal the shirts, claiming they created a "hostile" environment and comparing wearing these shirts to wearing a swastika in front of Jewish students.
"It was definitely hard to hear because we're by no means trying to be hateful," Kaitlyn told Fox News Digital. "We're just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in trying to raise awareness to a situation."
The transgender athlete, however, has been allegedly allowed to wear "trans pride" bracelets, and the school allows other forms of social messaging around campus, including a LGBTQ pride flag, the complaint noted.
"The biological male transgender athlete who displaced T.S. on the girls’ varsity team had recently transferred from another local high school after breaking that school’s all-time cross-country record for the girls’ cross-country team," the complaint said.
"T.S., who had held a position on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 since August 2024 was removed from the girls’ Varsity Top 7 to make room on the girls’ Varsity Top 7 for an eleventh-grade transgender student and T.S. was relegated to the junior varsity team for one of the most important meets of the season for college recruitment," the complaint said.
According to the girls' Advocates for Faith and Freedom attorney, Julianne Fleischer, the lawsuit claims there were violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and their Title IX protections.
In October, according to the complaint, the district’s Title IX coordinator, Bethany Scott, informed Taylor's mother of a formal investigation into her complaint. Scott also conveyed that Taylor would not be disadvantaged by running on the junior varsity team at a key upcoming cross-country meet, but her mother argued it would harm her chances of being noticed by college scouts. By Nov. 1, after follow-ups, the district reclassified the Title IX complaint as a confidential personnel matter, claiming it did not meet the criteria for sex-based discrimination.
Typically, multiple factors, beyond race times, are considered for varsity selection on the cross-country team They complaint alleges that Taylor's dedication and hard work were overlooked, and the school district failed to provide a clear explanation, forming the basis of the Title IX complaint, Fleisher said.
"We're seeing more and more women and young girls speak up and challenge these policies that are allowing biological boys to join and participate in these sports," Fleischer told Fox News Digital. "And so there's lawsuits that are popping up all around the country. We're hopeful that even with the incoming administration and Congress that we're going to see real positive change to Title IX that actually upholds and safeguards the rights of women to participate in their sports and to be safe and to be able to compete amongst one another."
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Title IX was amended to include discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation. The Supreme Court ruled against one of Biden's requests in August that would have permitted biological men in women’s bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms in 10 states where there are state-level and local-level rules in place to prevent it.
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump said he would roll back Biden-Harris policies on gender treatments for minors and protect women in sports.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Riverside Unified School District and Martin Luther King High School for comment.
