A California high school volleyball match has sparked major controversy after one team refused to play because the other side included a transgender athlete.
Jurupa Valley High School’s girls’ squad, which counts trans player AB Hernandez among its roster, was meant to face Riverside Poly High on August 15. But Riverside Poly pulled out, forfeiting the game altogether.
The school later said the decision was “disappointing” but insisted it was about creating a “safe, positive environment for all student-athletes.”
Parents have since told local media that the forfeit was directly linked to Hernandez’s inclusion, and that the move came from school officials, not the teenage players themselves.
Amanda Vickers, a Riverside school board member, defended the call in an interview with Fox News Digital.
She cited the case of Payton McNabb, a North Carolina player who was injured in a 2022 match against a transgender athlete, saying: “Tonight, the girls of Riverside Poly High School, they’re not going to end up like Payton McNabb.”
