WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding if California did not stop a transgender girl in high school from competing in state track and field finals, and said he would discuss it with Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday.
Trump, in a social media post, appeared to be referring to AB Hernandez, 16, who has qualified to compete in the long jump, high jump and triple jump championship run by the California Interscholastic Federation at a high school in Clovis, California, this weekend.
The CIF is the governing body for California high school sports, and its bylaws state that all students “should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.” California law prohibits discrimination, including at schools, based on gender identity.
Trump, a Republican, referred in his social media post on Tuesday to California’s governor as a “Radical Left Democrat” and said: “THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS.”
He said he was ordering local authorities not to allow the trans athlete to compete in the finals.
Under the U.S. and California constitutions, state and local officials and individuals are not subject to orders of the president, who can generally only issue orders to agencies and members of the federal government’s executive branch.
Trump threatened that “large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently,” if his demands are not met. Such a move would almost certainly lead to a legal challenge by California, which has already sued over multiple Trump actions it says are illegal or unconstitutional.
Trump also referred to comments Newsom made on his podcast in March when the governor also said he believed competition involving transgender girls was “deeply unfair.”
A spokesperson for Newsom declined to comment on Trump’s remarks, but referred to comments Newsom made in April when he said overturning California’s 12-year-old law allowing trans athletes to participate in sports was not a priority.
“You’re talking about a very small number of people,” Newsom told reporters. Out of the 5.8 million students in California’s public school system, there are estimated to be fewer than 10 active trans student athletes, according to the governor’s office.
A CIF spokesperson did not respond to questions, and Hernandez could not be immediately reached for comment.
Some local school officials and parents have sought to prevent Hernandez from competing; others have spoken in support of Hernandez and condemned what they say is bullying of a teenager.
In an interview with Capital & Main, Hernandez dismissed claims she has an unfair biological advantage in sports, noting that while she had placed first in a triple jump event this month, she came in eighth in the high jump and third in the long jump.
“All I thought was, I don’t think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash,” Hernandez said of her mixed showing.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting and writing by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Rod Nickel)
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