On Sept. 9, 2025, the Jurupa Valley Unified School District (JUSD), located just south of the neighboring Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), was the subject of a federal lawsuit filed against it by three JUSD student-athletes. The lawsuit cited Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational programs.
Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
The targeted students faced sex-based discrimination under Title IX for having to compete on the same track and volleyball team, not to mention share facilities with transgender athletes. While her name isn’t directly brought up in the lawsuit, the case clearly references AB Hernandez ‘26, a transgender student-athlete and Jurupa Valley High School (JVHS) senior.
In June 2025, Hernandez received backlash from conservative media and local right-leaning activists in response to her taking first place as a transgender athlete in two girls’ track and field events at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Track and Field Championships.
The common regurgitated and oversimplified argument of “unfair biological advantages” continues to be cited as a justification by these groups for widespread transgender discrimination.
The CIF policy, aligned with state law (AB 1266, 2013), has allowed for student-athletes to participate in sports in line with their gender identity, regardless of their sex assigned at birth. However, due to the outcry from parts of the community and the national attention, wins were counted yet modified by CIF so that cisgender girls weren’t displaced from podium spots.
This California state policy is a step in the right direction of equal rights for these marginalized LGBTQ+ communities and was reaffirmed by the California Department of Education (CDE).
These statewide laws directly clash with how Title IX is interpreted on a federal level, with executive orders carried out under the latest Trump Administration, defining gender in terms of the educational amendments to refer to sex assigned at birth.
These executive orders replaced the Biden administration’s policies, which offered protections to LGBTQ+ athletes in sports by the U.S.Department of Education (USDE).
Within the community at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech), some students shared their thoughts on whether the debate over trans-athletes is an issue of fairness or an attempt to marginalize an already disadvantaged group.
“Simply put, we have bigger fish to fry. Our country, in terms of running everything, is in a bit of a freefall … one or two transgender athletes competing, people shouldn’t really care,” Liam Connell ‘26 stated.
Laurel Canon ‘26 gave insight into the issue as a former member of the transgender community and an athlete on the Foothill Tech track and field team.
“I think it becomes a whole other issue the moment that any LGBT kid is excluded from a sport because they are LGBT … I identified as transgender at one point, I was on the guys’ track team, I had an equal opportunity,” Canon shared.
The lawsuit taking place against the JUSD, CDE, and CIF is important because it represents a larger discussion that is taking place within the United States. This lawsuit misrepresents and warps the focus of Title IX, initially conceived to prevent exclusion within education. That being said, it is now working in direct opposition to that, discriminating and isolating members of the transgender community from sports.
