The mother of transgender California track athlete AB Hernandez seems to believe that the winner’s podium at a female track event is no place for females.
In a speech at the San Francisco Pride Summit on Thursday, Nereyda Hernandez took strong exception to the recent California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) decision to give first-place honors to the female athletes who finished behind her son.
Hernandez says the new rule has rendered her son “invisible.”
“Of course I’m going to be upset,” Hernandez said. “AB put in all the work, all the hours after school, and she got put aside. It was heartbreaking. I knew it hurt her, because she’s physically there, but she’s kind of invisible.”
The CIF instituted the new rule as a way of, at least attempting to quell the controversy surrounding the state’s decision to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports.
Hernandez’s son, AB, has taken first-place podium honors at several female category track events in recent months while competing for Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County.
His inclusion at the events has sparked protests from parents and activists seeking to prevent males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
To AB, those protests just don’t seem to matter.
“I don’t care,” AB said at last month’s track events.
“Track is a very singular sport; it teaches you to rely on yourself. Once you’re on the track, you just stay focused on the track.”