A California girls' volleyball team has forfeited a game to avoid having to compete against a "transgender" athlete. Riverside Poly High School released a statement that was rather ambiguous, but parents later confirmed it was due to safety and fairness concerns regarding AB Hernandez, who previously made headlines as a biological boy who dominated the track and field state championships earlier this year.
On that note, if you missed California attorney Julie Hamill's interview at the time covering the situation, it's an absolutely masterclass.
WATCH: Absolutely Must-See Exchange Between CA Attorney and Defiant CNN Host on 'Transgender' Athlete
Returning to the present day, though, here's what the school had to say.
“Riverside Poly High School’s girls volleyball team will not take the court for tonight’s scheduled game against Jurupa Valley High School,” the statement said.
“This match will be recorded as a forfeit in non-league standings. We understand this is disappointing for our athletes, families and supporters, and we appreciate the community’s understanding. We remain committed to providing a safe, positive environment for all student-athletes throughout the season.”
No reason for the forfeit was provided in the statement.
Look, I'm glad some schools are standing up for girls and forfeiting these games, but if that's the most outrage that can be mustered, they're going to lose this battle long-term. The issue here isn't providing a "safe, positive environment for all student-athletes." It's providing that for girls. If that isn't spoken plainly, it becomes a win for the transgender lobby, which wants nothing more than its opponents to cower behind tepid language.
Getting to what the parents had to say, you see the same theme.
“The decision was not about hatred or anything negative. Trans people still have rights but not a right to play sports against the opposite sex,” said Fred Brayton, the father of a Riverside Poly player.
“It is not about AB. It is about women need[ing] to play against other women. It is about boys participating in girls sports. The small minority of the community that thinks we are discriminating have it wrong. You can be trans all day long but you can’t be a boy and play girl sports. You can still go about being trans but probably need to focus on that and not playing sports against the opposite sex.”
Except it is about something "negative," and it is "about AB." All these qualifiers only muddy the waters to the point where you can't make a coherent case against transgender athletes playing in girls' sports. As I've said many times, the entire transgender movement relies on you giving up the premise that people can change their gender just because they are suffering from mental delusions. If every criticism is couched with some form of, "Well, I still support trans rights," that's missing the point by a mile.
The way to handle this topic is just to speak clearly. These parents should say outright that a boy can not become a girl, and thus, they have no right to interfere in girls' sports. Because if you give up the first premise, you're inevitably painting yourself in a corner on the second one.
One mother of a player on the team got much closer to the target with her statement.
“Two reasons: for her safety, number one… and two, men shouldn’t be in women’s sports,” the mother said of why she wouldn’t let her daughter play. “I’m not willing to risk her safety because [Hernandez] wants to play on a girls’ team… so this is a pretty good message, I think it’s pretty bold of these girls and their parents to have to care and be willing to forfeit the game to make that statement.”
She doesn't use qualifiers. She didn't use "preferred" pronouns. She just says the plain truth, which is that men shouldn't be in women's sports. It's not more complicated than that.
That's what it's going to take. If society keeps trying to find a middle ground on this, it'll end up losing all the ground. Frankly, it is child abuse to let or even encourage a minor to "transition," especially since science tells us almost all kids suffering from gender dysphoria grow out of it. This isn't just about sports. It's about protecting kids more broadly and calling out bad actors like AB Hernanedez's mother, who has become an activist because, of course, she has.
Lastly, it needs to be pointed out that it was the students who pushed to forfeit this game. It shouldn't be that way. The school itself should have made that decision to protect its students. Again, until adults grow a backbone on this issue, this is going to continue to be a cultural flashpoint where normal people lose ground.
