Trans athlete made girls feel unsafe, sexually harassed: lawsuit

Three female student athletes allege that California school officials allowed a trans-identifying male athlete to compete in girls’ athletic programs and use the girls’ locker room, dismissing multiple reports accusing the male student of making female athletes uncomfortable with unwanted touching and sexual comments.

Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a nonprofit law firm, announced in a press release last Tuesday that it filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the three female athletes from Jurupa Valley High School. 

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accuses the California Department of Education, the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District of violating Title IX, the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment.

The complaint asserts that allowing a male athlete to compete in girls’ sports subjected the female athletes to an “unfair athletic competition, safety risks, sexual harassment, and deprivation of equal educational opportunities resulting in harm to Plaintiffs and many other female athletes.”

When the plaintiffs attempted to discuss the issue with school officials, the lawsuit claims that they were told the school was in compliance with state law or that they suffered retaliation.

Earlier this month, McPherson and Hazameh were reportedly removed from varsity volleyball group chats after expressing concerns with their coach about having a male athlete on the team.

“Title IX was passed to stop sex discrimination against women, not to erase them from their own sports,” Advocates for Faith and Freedom President and Chief Counsel, Robert Tyler, said in the law firm’s press release.

“Our daughters are being denied fair play and subjected to sexual harassment all because California insists on putting radical gender ideology ahead of common sense and safety,” Tyler added.

Of the plaintiffs listed, only Madison McPherson, a former JVHS multi-athlete and collegiate volleyball player, is named in the lawsuit. The two other plaintiffs are referred to by their initials in the suit, A.M. and H.H.; however, the law firm’s press release confirmed that their names are Alyssa McPherson and Hadeel Hazameh. 

While the trans-identifying athlete is only referred to as A.H. in the lawsuit, CNN speculated that the male student mentioned in the complaint is AB Hernandez. 

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, the California Interscholastic Federation said that it does not comment on legal matters. The California Department of Education and the Jurupa Unified School District did not immediately respond to CP’s request for comment, nor did they confirm whether Hernandez is the student mentioned in the complaint. 

According to the lawsuit, A.H. is a male student athlete and high school senior who has competed “with and against” women in various sports since 2022. McPherson and Hazameh suffered lower ranking and had to settle for losing many placements as a result of having to compete with A.H., the complaint argued.

In addition to girls’ track and field, A.H. also competed on JVHS’s girls’ varsity volleyball team. As the lawsuit noted, at least six teams have forfeited or canceled their matches against JVHS since the commencement of the 2025-2026 season because they refused to compete against a male athlete. 

Throughout the 2023-2024 athletic season, the plaintiffs also noticed that A.H. appeared to have “undergone consistent physical development and growth consistent with male puberty, including increased musculature, strength, and facial features becoming more defined.”

“A.H. has the strength to hit balls at a force greater than most female athletes yet lacks the skill to consistently control his strikes,” the lawsuit stated. “On multiple occasions, A.H. struck opposing players’ heads with the ball.”

Instead of expressing remorse if he injured or humiliated another player, A.H. reportedly laughed, even boasting once that he had caused three female athletes to suffer possible concussions.

In addition to allowing A.H. to compete on girls’ athletic teams, defendants permitted the male student to use the girls’ bathroom and locker rooms, according to the lawsuit. Plaintiffs allege that they experienced “repeated discomfort” due to A.H., accusing him of lingering in the locker room after changing and making eye contact with girls while they changed clothes. 

During H.H.’s freshman year, she enrolled in a fifth period volleyball class to prepare for team tryouts, as the complaint recounted. A.H. was in the class as well, and he would sometimes enter the girls’ locker room to change clothes when H.H. was in the locker room, making her uncomfortable.

“Because of her religious obligations and her own discomfort with sharing an intimate space with a male, H.H. attempted to avoid changing in A.H.’s presence by waiting until A.H. left the locker room, using the nurse’s bathroom, or changing in the volleyball storage room,” the lawsuit said. 

Outside of the locker room, A.H. allegedly subjected female athletes to “unwelcomed and offensive contact,” with the complaint accusing him of slapping or placing his hands on girls’ buttocks during athletic events or team huddles. The plaintiffs said that they “felt violated and objectified” by the male student’s behavior.

The plaintiffs also claimed that they experienced repeated and unwelcome sexual comments and remarks, which they said “created an offensive atmosphere.” 

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump threatened to halt federal funding to California if it did not comply with his February executive order banning male trans-identified athletes from women’s sports. 

While the president didn’t name the student, reports surfaced that Hernandez had qualified for the state finals after competing in the girls’ long jump and triple jump at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet. 

According to a July report released by the conservative group Concerned Women for America, male athletes who identify as female have “stolen” over 1,900 gold medals from women and girls and won nearly $500,000 in prize money by competing on women’s teams.