Three female athletes from a California high school are taking legal action after their school refused to stop a trans-identifying biological male from competing on the female volleyball team and accessing the women’s locker room.
The three Jurupa Valley High School volleyball players—Hadeel Hazameh, Alyssa McPherson and her sister, former player Madison McPherson—were forced to change in the locker room with male student A.B. Hernandez, who allegedly touched female team members without consent and lingered in the locker room, causing discomfort to the young women.
The allegations include Hernandez celebrating the injuring of other athletes and bragging to Alyssa McPherson that he recently caused potential concussions to three other players. The players also allege he would laugh about his antics. According to the lawsuit, Alyssa McPherson once left her practice drill after Hernandez hurt her by slamming a ball directly in her face. In addition to competing on the girls’ volleyball team, Hernandez competes on the girls track team in the long jump, triple jump and high jump events, where he has won three state medals.
Maribel Munoz, the mother of the McPherson sisters, complained about safety concerns to athletic administrators, the principal, vice principal, and the district superintendent, but was ignored.
Earlier this month, the school reportedly removed Alyssa McPherson and Hazameh from the team group chats after they expressed their concerns to the coach.
Alyssa and Madison McPherson believe that “God created human beings as male and female and that gender is a fixed characteristic that cannot be changed.” They understand the “importance of recognizing and honoring the distinctives of male and female as created by God,” according to the lawsuit.
Alyssa left the team in protest. Hazameh, who is a practicing Muslim, also quit the team in protest, noting that undressing in front of a male in the locker room violates her religious beliefs.
Alleging violations of Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, the nonprofit law firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the three athletes, as well as their mothers, against the California Department of Education, the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District. The lawsuit calls for monetary damages and the removal of A.B. Hernandez from the team.
“Title IX was passed to stop sex discrimination against women, not to erase them from their own sports,” Robert Tyler, president and chief counsel of Advocates for Faith & Freedom, said. “Our daughters are being denied fair play and subjected to sexual harassment all because California insists on putting radical gender ideology ahead of common sense and safety.”
“Girls’ sports are for girls. No policy can erase the biological differences between males and females, and forcing young women to compete against boys is both unfair and unsafe,” said Senior Counsel Julianne Fleischer. “This case is about restoring dignity to women’s sports and ensuring that the God-given distinctions between male and female are respected, not erased.”
Stories of trans-identifying men in women’s volleyball has spread, as more accounts of injuries have appeared. Earlier this month, three athletes filed a Title IX complaint against Santa Rosa Junior College, which permitted a biological male athlete on the women’s team. He allegedly injured another player with a concussion after spiking the ball on the player’s head.
In 2022, a transgender player in North Carolina caused permanent brain damage to Payton McNabb, a high school volleyball athlete, after he spiked a ball.