Trans Athlete AB Hernandez Forced to Share First Place With Cisgender Girls at Track Meet

Kirby Lee/Getty Images This story originally appeared in Out . She jumped higher than any other girl and took first place in three track and field contests. But a state athletic policy enacted last year forced transgender athlete AB Hernandez to share the podium on Saturday with cisgender girls who couldn't match her performance.

Hernandez, a two-time state champion representing Jurupa Valley High School, won the high jump, long jump, and triple jump competitions at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section finals in Division 3. The 17-year-old was apparently warming up for her next event when the long jump medal ceremony took place, so Moorpark High School's Gianna Gonzalez stood alone on the first-place podium, despite finishing more than a foot behind Hernandez, Fox News reported . Later, although she edged out Oak Park High School's Gwynneth Mureika by two inches in the high jump, Hernandez shared the top podium spot with Mureika, adhering to the CIF pilot entry program.

Then, after jumping nearly two feet higher in the triple jump than Malia Strange of Shadow Hills, Hernandez finally stood alone in the top spot of the podium. But although Strange was absent, she still received a gold medal as a co-winner, as did Gonzalez and Mureika. While there are no reports of protests at Saturday's meet, the anti-inclusion group Save Girls' Sports organized a demonstration at the track and field preliminary meet earlier this month at Yorba Linda High School.

They accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of failing to protect fairness in girls’ sports. “Girls across California will continue losing placements, safety, and opportunities that they rightfully earned,” said former Vanguard University soccer player Sophia Lorey, who is the outreach director of California Family Council, a Christian organization designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.