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California’s conflict over trans athletes is heating up this summer.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)’s executive committee meeting was met by a swath of loud protesters on Friday.
The state’s growing “Save Girls Sports” contingency, led by the California Family Council, showed up outside the meeting with t-shirts, signs and even a podium for a press conference.
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Multiple female athletes, parents and state education officials spoke out against the CIF and Governor Gavin Newsom for the policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete in girls’ sports, sparking several controversies in the state over the past year alone.
California Family Council and outreach director Sophia Lorey also boasted a petition at the event, which has at least 20,074 signatures of Californians urging the CIF and Newsom to change the state’s gender eligibility policies.
Martin Luther King High School students Taylor Starling and Kaitlyn Slavin, who have filed a lawsuit against the Riverside Unified School District over a situation involving a trans student at their school, headlined the athlete speakers.
Starling shared her story of losing her varsity spot on the cross-country team to the trans athlete, while having her “Save Girls Sports” t-shirts compared to swastikas.
“This isn’t fair, girls like me are being told to sit down, smile and be quiet, and give up what we worked so hard for, and now we’re the ones being excluded from our own teams,” Starling said.
Slavin spoke in support of her teammate Starling.
“An example of this negative domino effect is Taylor’s mental health now being affected, leading to her family being affected,” Slavin said. “With Taylor being one of my best friends, I am now upset but also confused about how this is even allowed. Now my family is being affected, trying to be there for me, but also having to step up and do their part to make a change.”
California filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department earlier this month after officials demanded that the state’s public high schools confirm they will bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
The state said in its lawsuit that the Justice Department had “no right to make such a demand” and cited “no authority which would allow them to issue or enforce the Certification Demand Letter” to each local education agency.
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California defended the laws that have come into question, which allow athletes to participate in sports “consistent with” their gender identity and doesn’t violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The DOJ initially announced an investigation into the CIF for its state policies in late May, leading up to the girls’ track and field state championship that featured trans athlete AB Hernandez competing in several events in the female category.
The DOJ’s announcement of that investigation cited Starling and Slavin’s lawsuit.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
