California Transgender Athlete Facing Accusations Amid Forfeits

Eight teams have taken forfeits instead of playing AB Hernandez, Jurupa Valley

Jurupa Valley's AB Hernandez (second from the right) stands in the middle of two other competitors that share the 1st-place podium for the girls high jump at the CIF State track and field finals on Saturday, May 31, 2025 in Clovis, Calif. / Eric Taylor

Serious allegations have come to the forefront as a California high school volleyball program continues to receive forfeits on the court. 

Jurupa Valley High School features transgender athlete AB Hernandez, who now faces three lawsuits from current and former teammates alleging their experiences sharing a locker room. 

Two of those three, seniors Alyssa McPherson and Hadeel Hazameh, explained to Fox News Digital that they would not longer be on the team if Hernandez remained part of it. The third plaintiff is Madison McPherson, the older sister of Alyssa who graduated last year. 

The lawsuit has been filed against the Jurupa Unified School District, the California Interscholastic Federation and the California Department of Education. In the filing, the experience of sharing a team and locker room with the transgender athlete is the basis for it all.

“Plaintiffs have been intimidated by an intentionally hostile environment created by Defendants wherein they were bullied by school officials to censor their objections to competing with, and against, a male and to sharing intimate and private spaces with a male,” part of the lawsuit states. 

Earlier this year, Hernandez competed at the California high school track and field championships, capturing several medals including gold in the triple jump and high jump. 

Eight Teams Have Forfeited Games to Jurupa Valley volleyball 

An eighth scheduled opponent forfeited a planned match with Jaguars, as the program is now seeking new teams to fill the voids in the schedule. The Jurupa Unified School District confirmed with Fox News that Patriot High School has forfeited a planned match set for September 26.

Both Jurupa Valley and Patriot are part of the same Jurupa Unified School District. 

During an event earlier this month, three teams forfeited to the Jaguars. Aquinas, Yucaipa and San Dimas all refused to play them at the Freeway Games. Before that tournament, Jurupa Valley received forfeits from Riverside Poly, Rim of the World, Orange Vista and AB Miller.

Jurupa Valley is currently 11-6 and 3-0 in the league. They last played on September 24, besting Ramona in four sets. The next scheduled match is September 29 at Westridge.

Who Will Make the Ultimate Decision? 

That is the million-dollar question surrounding this entire ordeal. All of the major sides involved, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, are passing it off to others. 

Newsom, in a statement to Fox News Digital, suggested that the responsibility falls on the CIF, CDE and state legislature, and not his office. 

“Neither (the CIF or CDE) is under the Governor’s authority,” the statement read. “CIF and CDE have stated they follow existing state law - a law that was passed in 2013 and signed by Govenor Jery Brown and in line with 21 other states. For the law to change, the legislature would need to send the Governor a bill. They have not.”

As for the school district, they released a statement in which it says, “School district do not write laws for the state of California, nor do they have the power to ignore them or change them.”

The statement continues, saying “as primarily state-funded agencies, they are required to follow them.” As for the CDE, they declined to comment seeing as it is a “pending litigation.”

President Donald Trump has previously threatened to withhold federal funding from California because of the involvement of Hernandez in sports.