Trans Athletes Face Intense Efforts To Sideline Them. These California Teens Are Resisting

At a caller gathering of California’s precocious schoolhouse sports governing board, 2 seniors from Arroyo Grande High School said retired against a transgender adjacent competing connected their way and section squad and allegedly “watching” them successful nan girls’ locker room.

One of nan Central Coast students said she is “more comfortable” changing successful her car now. The different cited a Bible verse astir God creating men and women separately, and accused nan California Interscholastic Federation of subjecting girls to “exploitative and intrusive behaviour that is disguised done transgender ideology.”

“Our privateness is being compromised and our sports are being taken over,” she said.

During nan aforesaid meeting, Trevor Norcross, nan begetter of 17-year-old transgender inferior Lily Norcross, offered a starkly different perspective.

“Bathrooms and locker rooms are nan astir vulnerable spot for trans students, and erstwhile they are astatine their astir vulnerable,” he said. “Our girl goes to utmost lengths to debar them. Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t.”

Lily Norcross pinch her parents, Trevor and Hilary Norcross.

(Owen Main / For The Times)

Norcross said Lily’s teammates had for months been misrepresenting a azygous infinitesimal from nan twelvemonth prior, erstwhile Lily had to usage nan restroom aft a afloat time of avoiding it, chose to usage nan 1 successful nan locker room because it is monitored by an big and safer for her than others, and concisely stopped to chat pinch a friend connected her measurement out.

“There’s ever much to nan story,” he said.

The conflicting grounds reflected an increasingly charged debate complete transgender athletes participating successful younker sports nationwide. Churches, anti-LGBTQ+ defense groups, cisgender athletes and their blimpish families are organizing to topple trans-inclusive policies, while wide authorities officials, queer defense groups, transgender kids and their families are trying to sphere policies that let transgender kids to compete.

The conflict has been peculiarly sounded successful California, which has immoderate of nan nation’s astir progressive statewide diversion policies and wide leaders consenting to take sides them — including from nan Trump administration, which has attacked transgender authorities and is suing nan California Department of Education and nan CIF, alleging their trans-inclusive sports policies break nan civilian authorities of cisgender athletes.

Along pinch a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision connected nan legality of policies banning transgender athletes from competing successful states specified arsenic Idaho and West Virginia, nan Trump administration’s suit against California could person sweeping implications for transgender athletes — pinch a authorities nonaccomplishment perchance contributing to their being sidelined not conscionable successful blimpish states, but nationwide.

For nan fistful of transgender California teens caught successful nan mediate of nan fight, it has each been profoundly unnerving — if strangely motivating.

“I person to support doing it, because if I extremity doing sports, they won,” Lily Norcross said. “They sewage what they wanted.”

A coordinated effort

The activity to overturn California’s trans-inclusive policies is being coordinated astatine nan local, authorities and nationalist levels, and has gained superior momentum since respective of its leaders joined nan Trump administration.

At nan section level, cisgender athletes, their families and different blimpish and belief friends person expressed anger complete transgender athletes utilizing girls’ accommodation and resentment complete their allegedly stealing victories and nan spotlight from cisgender girls.

In 2024, 2 girls astatine Martin Luther King High School successful Riverside revenge a lawsuit challenging nan information of their transgender way and section teammate Abigail Jones, arguing her information constricted their ain successful usurpation of Title IX protections for female athletes. A judge recovered insufficient grounds of that, and precocious dismissed nan case.

Last year, Jurupa Valley High School way prima AB Hernandez won respective medals astatine nan CIF State Track and Field Championships contempt President Trump personally demanding she beryllium barred from competing. Critics based on Hernandez’s wins were unfair, contempt CIF having changed its rules truthful that her cisgender competitors received nan medals they would person received had she not competed.

AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School successful nan agelong jump astatine nan 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

The challenges to Abigail, AB and Lily competing person each been driven successful portion by a web of blimpish organizations moving crossed California and beyond to oust transgender girls from sports, including by coordinating pinch evangelical churches, pushing societal media campaigns, lining up speakers for schoolhouse committee meetings and moving pinch cisgender athletes to hone their messages of opposition.

Shannon Kessler, a erstwhile PTA president and religion leader who is now moving for authorities Assembly, has worked wrong nan wider network. In March 2025, Kessler founded nan group Save Girls’ Sports Central Coast, and nan adjacent period distributed fliers astatine Harvest Church successful Arroyo Grande that called connected parishioners to situation Lily’s information connected nan way and section team.

Kessler said nan 2 seniors connected Lily’s team, who did not respond to a petition for comment, had initially asked if she would “speak connected their behalf,” truthful she did, but she has since fto nan girls “take nan lead.”

“They took nan inaugural to speak and wrote their ain speeches,” Kessler said, of their remarks astatine nan caller CIF meeting.

Norcross said nan effort to sideline his girl has intelligibly been coordinated by outsiders from nan start. He blames Kessler, Harvest Church and nan state’s wider web of blimpish activists for stirring up baseless fears astir transgender athletes, exposing his family to threat and leaving them nary prime but to take sides themselves publicly.

“It’s not a adjacent position to beryllium in,” he said.

Tied up successful court

Within months of Trump issuing his February 2025 executive order calling for transgender athletes to beryllium barred from title nationwide, 2 leaders wrong nan California blimpish web turned Trump management officials — Harmeet Dhillon, who is now adjunct lawyer wide for civilian rights, and erstwhile authorities Assemblyman Bill Essayli, who is now successful complaint of nan U.S. attorney’s agency successful Los Angeles — quickly moved to bring nan authorities to heel.

They launched an investigation into California’s trans-inclusive sports policies, ordered its schoolhouse districts to comply pinch Trump’s bid successful defiance of authorities law, and past sued nan Department of Education and nan CIF erstwhile they refused — alleging nan state’s policies illegally discriminate against cisgender girls nether Title IX by ignoring “undeniable biologic differences betwixt boys and girls, successful favour of an amorphous ‘gender identity.’”

Neither Dhillon nor nan Justice Department responded to a petition for comment. Essayli’s agency declined to comment.

Assistant Atty. Gen. for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon arrives for a news convention astatine nan Justice Department successful September.

(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

The Department of Education and nan CIF person called for nan suit to beryllium dismissed, arguing that Title IX regulations “do not require nan removal of transgender girls” and that nan Justice Department had provided nary grounds that nan state’s policies near cisgender girls incapable to compete.

The CIF said successful a connection that it “provides students pinch nan opportunity to belong, connect, and compete successful education-based experiences successful compliance pinch California law,” but it and nan Department of Education said they do not remark connected pending litigation. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s agency has slammed nan Trump administration’s efforts, and revenge its ain lawsuit to artifact them.

Separate from nan California litigation, location is simply a awesome lawsuit connected transgender younker athletes earlier nan U.S. Supreme Court.

After athletes successfully challenged West Virginia and Idaho bans connected transgender title successful little national courts, nan states appealed. During arguments past month, nan precocious court’s blimpish mostly sounded ready to uphold nan authorities bans — but not needfully successful a measurement that would topple wide authorities laws allowing specified athletes to compete.

Pressure and resolve

Lily, AB and Abigail — each of whom are referenced anonymously successful nan national suit against California — agreed, pinch their parents, to beryllium identified by The Times successful bid to stock really it has felt to beryllium targeted.

Abigail, 17, graduated early and is preparing to commencement assemblage but hasn’t stopped being an advocate for transgender precocious schoolhouse athletes, continuing to show up to CIF and schoolhouse committee meetings to support their correct to compete.

“This is simply a portion of my life now, whether I for illustration it aliases not,” she said.

Speaking tin beryllium intimidating, Abigail said, but it has besides go acquainted — arsenic has nan formed of anti-transgender activists who routinely show up to speak arsenic well. “It’s ever nan aforesaid people,” she said.

Abigail Jones participates successful a protestation against President Trump and his attacks connected transgender group successful April successful Riverside.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

AB, besides 17, said past twelvemonth — erstwhile everyone, including Trump, seemed to beryllium talking astir her — was “just truthful overmuch — excessively much.”

She felt she had to perpetually “maintain an image,” including among her peers, that she was “not bothered by thing and conscionable confident,” which was exhausting, she said. “There were a batch of times I conscionable didn’t spell to school, because I felt for illustration I couldn’t support up that image and I didn’t want them to spot maine down.”

It still tin beryllium overwhelming if she looks astatine each nan vitriol aimed her measurement online, she said, but “off nan internet, it’s a wholly different story.”

AB was tense headed into past year’s championships, but a mates of different competitors reached retired pinch their support and nan meet ended up being “a blast,” she said. At way believe this year, she’s surrounded by friends — 1 of her favourite things astir being connected nan team.

For Lily, nan past twelvemonth has been “different and interesting, successful not really a bully way.”

She has had slurs lobbed astatine her and been physically threatened. She sometimes waits each time to usage nan toilet, astir bursting by nan clip she gets home. When she has to usage a schoolhouse restroom, she times herself to beryllium successful and retired successful nether 3 minutes. She took P.E. courses complete nan summertime successful portion because she felt location would beryllium less students around, but faced harassment anyway. Like AB, she feels arsenic though she’s nether a changeless spotlight.

And yet, Lily said she is besides “a batch happier pinch who I am” than she ever was earlier transitioning a mates of years ago. She said she’s enjoying her classes and her school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, wherever LGBTQ+ kids stitchery astatine luncheon to switch stories, and is optimistic astir nan early — moreover if things aren’t awesome correct now.

Her dada said watching her travel retired and modulation has been gratifying, because “the grin came back, nan ray successful her eyes came back.” Watching her navigate nan existent run against her, he said, has been “really hard,” because “she has been forced to turn up excessively quickly — she has been forced to take sides herself successful a measurement that astir kids don’t.”

Mostly, though, he’s conscionable proud of his kid.

“We had our fears arsenic parents, arsenic immoderate genitor would, that, OK, this is simply a different way than we thought our kid was going to beryllium on, and we are worried astir her information and her early successful this world,” he said. “But she is amazingly beardown — amazingly courageous.”