A lawsuit filed on behalf of a former student and two girls who attend Jurupa Valley High School in Southern California argues the Jurupa Unified School District is violating students’ Title IX and civil rights by allowing a transgender athlete to compete in girls' sports.
As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, the lawsuit, which also names the California State Department of Education as a defendant, accuses the athlete of sexually harassing girls and having an unfair competitive advantage.
According to CNN, the complaint does not name the transgender athlete, but the description matches that of A.B. Hernandez, a Jurupa Valley High School senior who was thrust into the spotlight after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold California’s federal funding over her participation in the state track and field championships in late May.
Hadeel Hazameh, Alyssa McPherson and Madison McPherson are the plaintiffs in the case.
"The plaintiffs claim the trans athlete made competition unfair, resulting in lower track and field rankings for those competing against her. The suit also says at least six schools forfeited volleyball matches rather than compete against the team that some of the plaintiffs, along with Hernandez, play on," CNN's Dakin Andone reported. "They also claim an invasion of privacy due to sharing a locker room with the student and allege school officials ignored or dismissed their complaints."
Related: Three High Schools Forfeit Matches to Avoid Competing Against Trans Volleyball Player
Through the trans athlete’s participation, the plaintiffs claim they experienced “unfair athletic competition, safety risks, sexual harassment, and deprivation of equal educational opportunities resulting in harm to Plaintiffs and many other female athletes, per Andone's reporting.
Aside from the California Department of Education and the Jurupa Unified School District, the defendants also include the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports across the state. A spokesperson for the California Department of Education said it had not yet seen the lawsuit. Spokespeople for all three defendants declined to comment on pending litigation.
“Girls’ sports are for girls. No policy can erase the biological differences between males and females, and forcing young women to compete against boys is both unfair and unsafe,” Julianne Fleischer, senior counsel for the plaintiffs’ legal team, the Murrieta-based conservative law firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom, said in a news release, as reported by the Daily News.
In an email cited by CNN, Nereyda Hernandez, A.B. Hernandez’s mother, urged “everyone to remember there is a real child at the center of this issue.”
“Regardless of personal opinions, no child should be subjected to public scrutiny, targeted, or used as a political symbol,” Hernandez’s mother said.
