The only thing possibly hotter than the temperatures that elite high school athletes will face in Clovis this weekend is the rhetoric over a trans track and field star.

President Donald Trump tweeted indirectly about AB Hernandez earlier this week, reigniting the national culture wars debate about transgender participation in athletics.

Hernandez, a Jurupa Valley High School athlete, qualified in three events for the CIF Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis: high jump, long jump, and triple jump.

A trans athlete, Hernandez is scheduled to compete in the girls division. Several Clovis and Fresno politicians said Thursday that is unfair to female athletes.

“Because the CIF, Governor Newsom, and the state Legislature have failed our female athletes, there is a distraction that hangs like a cloud over this weekend’s events,” Clovis City Councilmember Diane Pearce said at a news conference.

Pearce and others called for CIF and the state to allow only biological females in girls events. Opponents of transgender athletes are organizing a protest Friday and Saturday near the stadium.

Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, a retired psychologist, criticized transgenderism, saying it is something to be treated by mental health professionals.

“These attacks on girls and women in women’s sports by boys and men parading as females must end immediately,” Bredefeld said.

The remarks did not connect with one Clovis resident who is a member of the LGBT community.

“He should know better,” Stetler Brown said. “It disheartens me to see Mayor Pro Tem Pearce and Supervisor Bredefeld resort to bullying of a 16-year-old high school student who does not even live in the Valley. Instead, we are seeing elected officials go back to the patterns of homophobia and transphobia to score points and dominance in the news cycle for future electoral campaigns.”

Brown would rather have officials focus on unemployment, the cost of living, and other economic issues.

Mom: Cheer For Athletic Skill, Not for Being Trans

The mother of the trans athlete said her child just wants to compete.

LGBTQ Fresno passed on a message from Hernandez’s mom on its Facebook site. The group said it did not want to speak directly, respecting the family’s wishes.

“I want people to cheer after AB hits the pit and/or when AB receives her medals because it’s usually me so I want her to know she has a tribe behind her,” Hernandez’s mother said on Facebook via LGBTQ Fresno.

LGBTQ Fresno asked supporters not to focus on Hernandez’s trans status nor display rainbow or pride flags. The group also requested that supporters not interact with protesters.

“(The family does) want the focus to be on her athletic performance and the fact that she’s a kid competing as best as she can,” LGBTQ Fresno wrote.

Advocate: Let Them Play

Kat Fobear, a Fresno State associate professor in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, pointed out that Hernandez is one athlete out of the 1,500 competing.

“I’m really sad and heartbroken that this one student who just wants to compete in sports is being so targeted and made to be put on national headlines when all she really wants to do is compete,” Fobear said.

Fobear is the coordinator of LGBT studies at Fresno State.

She says physical advantages in sports are not black and white.

“I think we really should challenge this idea of biological advantage when in reality, it’s very little if there is (any). And remember that she is competing with a huge range of students who have huge ranges of physical abilities and advantages,” Fobear said.

Fobear points out that no one complains about trans men competing in male sports.

If opponents were serious about a gender equality in sports, Fobear said, they would speak up about equal funding and fighting discrimination.

“If you are worried about one transgender student competing and causing an unfair advantage, how about we give more opportunities for more female athletes in general to be able to compete?” Fobear said.

Clovis Unified Trustee Tiffany Stoker-Madsen said she does believe the district funds boys and girls sports the same. But, it “might look a little different” on fundraising through individual school foundations.

Females face discrimination because of childbearing and menstruation, Fobear said. There is also a problem with sexual harassment from coaches and other male athletes, Fobear said.

Fobear disagrees with the idea that athletes should be forced to compete by biology: “When you separate and isolate students based on this, that just creates more isolation, that creates more feeling like othered, and that also then harms the student.”

Tangipa Proposes ‘Open Division’

Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Clovis, proposed legislation that would create an “open division” to allow transgender athletes to compete fairly.

“That way anybody who wants to compete can compete but we also guarantee that there is a space for our young women and our young athletes to compete just like what Title IX has already settled,” Tangipa said.

Asked how he would get Democrats on board, Tangipa said, “They have to decide whether they want to do the right thing or not. That’s on them.”

CIF Attempts Middle Ground

The CIF — the body governing state athletics — attempted to thread the needle with a new policy. Biological females will be allowed to compete in the state finals if they otherwise would have lost their spot to a transgender competitor.

The policy also extends to qualifying for a final and placing on the podium. For example, if a trans athlete finishes third, the next-placed biological girl would earn a medal as well.

“The CIF values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code,” the CIF said in a Wednesday statement.

Tangipa said that is not enough.

“This change in Championship Weekend by CIF is an open admission that something wrong is going on,” Tangipa said.

He called “a third championship” as “unfair.”

Fobear said she had sympathy for the CIF to “navigate a politically intense issue that never needed to be politically intense.” She does not think it will solve the problem.

Hernandez By the Numbers

Of the 27 entrants for the girls high jump, Hernandez qualified at 5 feet, 4 inches, tied for 11th.

Hernandez posted the fifth-best qualifying mark for the girls long jump at 19 feet, 3.5 inches.

For the girls triple jump, Hernandez posted the second-best mark at 40 feet, 4.75 inches.

None of those scores would qualify in the boys division. The lowest qualifying mark for high jump is 6 feet, 2 inches. For the long jump, the lowest mark is 21 feet-2.5 inches. And in the triple jump, the minimum qualifying mark is 42 feet, 0.75 inches.

Watch the Full Press Conference