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. 

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"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. 

ENRAGED PARENTS SCREAM AT SCHOOL BOARD FOR ALLOWING TRANS ATHLETE IN GIRLS' SPORTS: ‘TEACH THEM SELF CONTROL!’

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."

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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. 

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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.

FATHER OF FEMALE RUNNER FORCED TO COMPETE WITH TRANS ATHLETE SHARES FURY OF SITUATION: 'CAN'T EVEN DIGEST IT'

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. 

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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. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

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. 

FATHER OF FEMALE RUNNER FORCED TO COMPETE WITH TRANS ATHLETE SHARES FURY OF SITUATION: 'CAN'T EVEN DIGEST IT'

"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."

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• As a graduate student at Stanford, Alex Yin, 32, had to decide between two internship opportunities
• He chose an internship in Bhutan, even though it was less relevant to his career.
• During his monthlong stint as an IT consultant, he learned how to grow from discomfort.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Yin, 32, an options trader from New Jersey. He graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business in June. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

As a Stanford Graduate School of Business student, deciding where to intern was tough.

I had two offers under the school's international program, the Global Management Immersion Experience. In order to graduate, fulfilling this program is required — either through the work abroad program or by taking a course on international business.

My first option was to work for a family office in Madrid, analyzing various investments. I had studied finance and statistics undergrad at New York University and had spent seven years in Chicago trading options at a large firm. It seemed like a natural fit and could be useful for anything I wanted to do in the future.

But I also had a second offer — a monthlong internship as an IT consultant at a hazelnut farm in Bhutan.

I had wanted to go to Bhutan ever since I went on vacation to Tibet when I was 17. It was such a magical place, and I wanted to return to a similar environment. I also knew it was a difficult country for visitors to visit as the government limits tourism.

It was a battle between my heart and my head. My heart was screaming, "Go to Bhutan! It doesn't matter what the job or company is. It's a cool opportunity."

Usually, I trust my head, but for this, I just listened to my heart.

I took the second offer

In August 2023, I flew 14 hours from New York to New Delhi and another five hours to Bhutan.

On the night I arrived, I met the CEO of Mountain Hazelnuts — an eccentric and friendly British man. The next morning, he took me to Tiger's Nest, an iconic monastery in Bhutan. It was an intense two-hour hike with steep and muddy trails.

Before the trip, I told myself I wouldn't care how uncomfortable it was and that I could spend a month without complaining. But it was day two, and I was like, "Wow, this is not easy. It's hot. I'm sweaty. There's a lot of poop around me. I'm about to fall." Still, I pushed through, and it was a magical experience at the top.

Later, we took a 16-hour car ride to Lingmethang, a small town in the eastern part of Bhutan, where I would work. I stayed in a three-bedroom home above the corporate office.

My week was divided between days in the office and field visits. As an IT consultant, my job responsibility was to manage a very limited IT budget and improve the security of their backup systems.

There was a point when I realized I'd actually never done any of this stuff before. "Am I qualified for the role?" I wondered to myself.

However, I learned that you can achieve a lot if you spend your time fully focused on solving a problem, even if you haven't had that direct experience before.

After work, I'd go to the village, drink a beer, and eat some momos, a type of dumpling, with my colleagues. They were locals between the ages of 25 and 45, and could all speak English well. I had to adjust to the simplicity, but I really appreciated it after a year at Stanford, where social events were nonstop.

Growing from discomfort

My biggest takeaway was that transitioning from a comfortable to an uncomfortable state isn't easy. But once you're in that uncomfortable state, it's pretty easy to maintain it.

In the village, I didn't have a lot of creature comforts. I had a pretty spartan life. But I was just as happy there, without the technology and distractions I had in Palo Alto. It's such a beautiful place that I didn't feel bored.

At night, I'd fend off mosquitoes, as locals don't kill them. I ran out of mosquito repellent in the first week, which was hard. The food also took a bit of getting used to, as it was mostly vegetarian.

Now, I live in New Jersey and am back in options trading. Although the internship was not entirely relevant to my career, it helped me gain confidence that if I try my best to solve a problem, I can still accomplish something.

I also appreciated how cohesive the company in Bhutan was. Although it wasn't doing well, everyone wanted to contribute their best. They held company barbecues where people would bring their families, dance, and sing into the night. I never heard anyone complaining during my time there.

I have found that this cohesiveness is hard to find in the US, where firms incentivize loyalty with money. I'd like to apply that to my future work places.

I will never regret choosing Bhutan, and I plan to return for a visit at some point.

• Nicole Echeverria felt unsafe in the US and wanted to try living abroad.
• She applied for graduate school because she thought getting a student visa would be easier.
• She now lives and works remotely from Nazaré, a beach town an hour and a half from Lisbon.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nicole Echeverria, 31, who moved from New York to Portugal in 2019. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'd had the itch to try living abroad for some time.

I grew up in New York, graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2015, and then moved to Boston for work.

After the 2016 elections, I began to feel anxious about my safety. That's when I started seriously considering moving abroad. I just needed to find the right opportunity.

I knew a student visa would make it easier to move, so I thought, why don't I apply to graduate school abroad?

Most people think graduate school is only worth it if it can propel their careers forward. However, I saw it as a way to gain valuable life experience and keep me in the same career field.

I had a few requirements: The degree had to be business-related, taught in English, and American-accredited. It also had to be in a country with a lower cost of living so that I could pay for my degree without taking loans.

In the winter of 2018, I found the right program. It was a two-year Masters of Science in Business program at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics.

At that time, the program cost around 14,300 euros, which I had in savings.

I left Boston, where I had been working in content marketing, and moved back home to live with my parents in Long Island. For nine months, I focused on saving up as much as possible while commuting to New York City for work.

In August 2019, I moved to Lisbon. Although I had traveled to other parts of Europe, I had never visited Portugal. I went purely on the faith that if I wasn't happy there, I'd return to New York once I graduated.

I got really lucky that I ended up loving it. Lisbon instantly gave me a Los Angeles vibe. The weather was hot, but the beaches were beautiful. Everyone had a relaxed attitude, and people weren't on edge like they were in New York.

I didn't intend to stay

Around half a year into my program, the pandemic struck, and everything went remote. Many of my international classmates returned to their home countries. That's when I was faced with the question: Do I want to go back to New York?

Back in the US, I was always hyperaware of gun violence. Anything could happen walking in the streets of Manhattan, for example. A crazy person could approach you, and you just have to keep walking. It also looks like it's gotten worse, with incidents of women getting assaulted on the streets.

As hard as it was to be away from my family and close friends, prioritizing my health and safety was worth the loneliness of moving abroad. I felt less anxious about safety in Portugal, which solidified my decision to stay.

Portugal has a post-graduation work visa that grants international students a year of residence to find employment. After being on the visa for a year, I registered as a freelancer on a regular work permit and have worked as a social media manager since.

My family was surprised by my decision to stay. My dad told me that when my grandparents ask about me, he has to remind them that I live in another country now. But I still return a few times a year for Christmas or special occasions.

I'm planning a wedding in Portugal

In 2022, I met my fiancé through TikTok. He's Portuguese and commented on one of my videos. After two years, we moved in together in Nazaré, a beach town an hour and a half away from Lisbon.

We're planning our wedding in Portugal for August next year. We picked a venue an hour and a half away from Porto in the countryside. It's a gorgeous historic building built in the 1700s, and we're super excited about it.

The venue will cost $3,500 for a two-day rental, offering us the chance to have an affordable wedding.

Sometimes, I tease my fiancé with the idea that once I get my Portuguese passport, we can move to Greece or elsewhere in Europe.

For now, we dream of living in Lisbon and having a summer vacation house in Greece. From the relaxed way of life, lower cost of living, and the fact that I can work remotely as a freelancer, it just makes more sense to have my life here.

I'm definitely planning on staying for the long term.

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." 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

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. 

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

"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."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

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.

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

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.

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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.

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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.

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

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. 

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• I paused my college education when I was younger to get married and again to start a family.
• I always knew I'd go back, and I decided to re-enroll at 42.
• I never expected my daughter would go to the same college.

I never thought of myself as a college dropout. I started right after high school, and after three misguided semesters, I paused to move out of state and get married. I tried again four years later, taking night classes after work, and quit again to start a family. I knew I would finish when the timing was right.

When the pandemic shut the world down, I decided it was time. At the age of 42, I enrolled in community college, majoring in mass communications, thinking I could at least get a two-year degree. After that, I could decide to keep moving forward or take yet another break.

I went back to school, and my daughter chose the same college

This time around, I was a better student. I graduated with my associate's degree the same month my daughter Siri graduated from high school, and my son Judah finished 5th grade. I didn't want to lose my educational momentum, so I applied to transfer to a four-year school closeby and keep moving forward.

Siri had big plans to leave the South for college — or at least to leave the state. But even with generous scholarship offers from the out-of-state schools she had applied to, she couldn't do that without accruing student debt. Middle Tennessee State University offered her enough scholarship money to cover her tuition, books, and then some. And because it happens to be the four-year state school within a reasonable drive from our house, she would know at least one person there: her mom.

We worried it would be weird

I had my worries, and she did, too. Would it be embarrassing to have me around? Would I be a wet blanket in her college experience? Would people think I followed her there as an extreme helicopter parent? I asked if I should pretend not to see her if we ran into each other.

"No, Mom," she said. "Be normal."

Her freshman year — also my junior year — started in fall 2023. With different majors in different departments, we were rarely in the same building. She lived on campus, and I commuted, so we didn't even park in the same lots. Our only shared space was the library.

Dorm life infected Siri with homesickness, and after 18 years with her by my side, life at home wasn't the same. We started meeting for weekly lunch or coffee dates and texted each other constantly. After years of saying, "I'm your mom, not your friend," I admitted that was something I thought I was supposed to say. Of course, in actuality, she's my best friend.

Going to the same school has only enhanced our experience

Siri studies political science and pre-law. I'm a journalism major and work as an editor for the school newspaper. She joined as a reporter this semester. I tell people she probably figured it couldn't be too hard if I did it, but really, whenever she said it sounded fun, I tried to rope her in. Now we're on the same team and share some friends. She's not too embarrassed to hug me in the newsroom, although she calls me Shauna there instead of Mom.

Siri is nothing like I was the first time I tried college. I had no motivation and no direction. She's ambitious, with plans to head to law school after graduation. If my mom had shown up on campus during my freshman year, I would have been mortified. Siri has handled the situation with infinite grace.

I feel so lucky to have her as a part of my late-blooming college experience, and I think she feels the same way. She will graduate a year early, in May 2026. I'll graduate this May, but she keeps asking me to slow down so we can don caps and gowns together. (She thinks the pictures would be cute.) My graduation is the day before Mother's Day, and if my family wants to take me out to celebrate both days, I won't say no. I've earned it.

Along with my husband and son, Siri is my biggest cheerleader. When I feel like I can't do it all, she lifts me up. Between choosing to stay at home with my kids instead of working full-time and the coincidence of going to school together, I've had the best of both worlds in a way most parents could never imagine.

Next year, Siri will be a senior. Judah will be in 8th grade, and I will (hopefully) be working full-time for a newspaper, magazine, or radio station. When Judah starts college, he won't have to worry about running into his mom in the library.

Or maybe by then, I'll be ready for grad school.

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." 

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

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."

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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. 

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

"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. 

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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."

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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. 

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

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.

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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.

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"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.

Police were still investigating the incident.

"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.

EX-NHL PLAYER PAUL BISSONNETTE ASSAULTED BY 6 MEN AT ARIZONA RESTAURANT: 'IT ESCALATED EXTREMELY QUICKLY'

"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.

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• Five top US business schools enrolled less racially diverse classes this year compared to last year.
• Bloomberg analyzed demographic data in the year since the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action.
• Overall, however, the share of underrepresented minorities in top MBA programs increased this year.

Five of the most prestigious business schools in the US enrolled fewer underrepresented minority students this year, according to demographic data released since the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action last summer.

Minority enrollment at these five universities — all of which are among the top 10 MBA programs, per Bloomberg's Businessweek ranking — stands in contrast to a larger trend that saw an overall increase in the number of minority students attending highly ranked business schools this year.

Bloomberg analyzed university disclosures of student racial counts and found that the share of Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander students enrolled in top MBA programs for the Class of 2026 actually represents an increase over the previous two years.

The analysis comes more than a year after the Supreme Court voted to ban universities from considering race in admissions, effectively ending affirmative action. For four decades, the practice allowed universities to give additional weight to applicants who belonged to groups that have historically been the subject of discrimination.

Fifteen of the 18 highest-ranked universities disclose racial breakdowns of their MBA programs. Of those 15, six saw a notable increase in the number of underrepresented minority students represented in their matriculating 2024 classes, Bloomberg found.

Four programs saw slight upticks, though those increases were across total enrollment, which includes international students, meaning the share of minority US students either did not change or fell slightly, according to the outlet's analysis.

Five of the most prestigious business schools, however, reported fewer underrepresented minorities in this year's newest class compared to last year's entering cohort: Harvard Business School, The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and MIT Sloan School of Management.

Representatives for the five universities did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Harvard, which ranks sixth in Bloomberg's list, reported a 1.3% decrease in underrepresented minorities in this year's matriculating class, down from a total share of 12.9% in last year's cohort, Bloomberg found.

No. 7-ranked Wharton saw its share of underrepresented minorities dip 2% with this year's cohort, while No. 1-ranked Stanford's newest class is down 3.6% year-over-year, according to the outlet.

Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, meanwhile, which is ranked third, fell 5.6%, with underrepresented minorities representing 4.2% of the school's Class of 2026, the analysis found. Kellogg's Black student enrollment dropped from 20 students to five this year, and its Hispanic population fell by nearly half, Bloomberg reported.

A spokesperson for Kellogg, in comments to Bloomberg, attributed the decrease to a yield problem, saying the university accepted the same number of underrepresented minority students as it usually does, but they chose not to enroll.

MIT Sloan's share of underrepresented minority students in this year's entering class fell 5.7% from the Class of 2025's 14.2 minority makeup.

While these five programs reported decreases in underrepresented minorities, this year's demographic data seems to suggest that the loss of affirmative action did not necessarily lead to less diverse cohorts.

For example, Duke's Fuqua School of Business and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business both reported an 8.2% increase in the share of underrepresented minorities enrolled this year.

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."

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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.

SCHOOL DISTRICT DEFENDS DECISION TO BAN PARENTS WHO WORE ‘XX’ WRISTBANDS AT DAUGHTERS’ GAME WITH TRANS ATHLETE

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.

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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." 

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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. 

SJSU WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL'S 1ST OPPONENT DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT TRANS PLAYER, SUGGESTS MATCH WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED

"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. 

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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. 

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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. 

SJSU WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL'S 1ST OPPONENT DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT TRANS PLAYER, SUGGESTS MATCH WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED

"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. 

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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 PRONOUN POLICE HAVE ARRIVED AND ARE COMING FOR YOU NEXT 

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. 

TRANS VOLLEYBALL PLAYER LEGAL HEARING OPENED WITH LONG AND HEATED DEBATE OVER WHAT PRONOUNS TO USE

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. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Dina Winter-Robinson and her twin were homeless and constantly late for school at the age of 13.
• They were staying with an aunt who lived an hour away and had to take two trains to get there.
• The sisters were scared of repercussions and told nobody. But a thoughtful teacher put them at ease.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dina Winter-Robinson, 51, a school kitchen worker from New York City. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Many people don't know how impactful they are unless you actually tell them. Sometimes they don't even have a clue.

I suspect my 8th grade science teacher, Mrs. Falcoff, never knew what a gift she gave to me — a desperately shy teen who barely spoke at school — by making me feel heard.

My twin sister, Gina, and I lived in the Bronx with our mother, a single mom, and one of our two older brothers. We had a nice apartment owned by a private landlord and everything was fine — until it wasn't.

I felt ashamed and told nobody

The landlord raised our rent, and Mom, a nursing assistant, couldn't afford it. As a result, we had to leave. My mom moved into a temporary place with her then-boyfriend, and my brother stayed with the family of his best friend.

Meanwhile, Gina and I were sent to live with Mom's sister, Auntie Marjorie, who lived in an apartment in Brooklyn with her two sons and daughter.

We loved our relatives, but it was a strain at times. The apartment had two bedrooms, and all five of us kids shared a room. Still, the most challenging part was getting to our middle school in the Bronx in the morning.

We took two trains, which was new to us because we hadn't been on the subway before. It was the mid-80s when people thought the New York City transit system wasn't safe. But I was more worried about getting to class on time.

It often took us an hour to get there. We'd miss the start of the first period, usually science, and I'd shuffle into the classroom with my head down, hoping nobody would notice.

My teacher helped us

I was embarrassed about our situation. I was also concerned that if anyone found out, they'd ask questions. I was terrified the authorities would get involved, and our family might be investigated and separated for good.

Gina kept our secret but there was a constant fear we'd be found out.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Falcoff was my favorite teacher. She was strict but fair, and the other kids respected her, too.

Even though I admired Mrs. Falcoff, my shyness meant I hardly spoke to her. Although I was academically strong, I hardly ever raised my hand to answer questions.

Then, one morning, while the other kids were leaving the classroom, she called me over. "What's going on, Dina?" she asked. "Why are you and your sister always late for school?" I was nervous, but I trusted her. "Gina and I are homeless," I said. I told her how we were not living on the streets, but it was hard because of the travel time to get to school.

She looked a bit shocked, but her voice was reassuring. I explained how we'd moved in with Auntie Marjorie and didn't know for how long. I said we were safe. "Could your mom call or write me a letter to confirm things?" she said. I felt seen and heard at last.

I'll never forget Mrs. Falcoff

Mom wrote the letter, which I gave to Mrs. Falcoff the next day. She must have had to tell the principal, but there were no repercussions. We did our best not to be late to school anymore, but we didn't get into trouble if we were.

Everybody pulled together to make things work, but Auntie Marjorie's apartment was crowded. There wasn't much privacy which was hard when you're a 13-year-old girl. To our relief, after seven months, Mom had saved enough to rent a new place in the Bronx.

It was great to be reunited. I spent the rest of my teenage years feeling happier and more settled.

I've never forgotten Mrs. Falcoff and the important part she played in my life. I often think of her and how much she'd listened to me and gone out of her way to care.

Do you have an interesting story to share with Business Insider about someone who made a big influence on you? Please send details to [email protected]

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."

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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. 

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