Inside the last dance of AB Hernandez
A man standing in line for the ice cream stand nudged his friend when AB Hernandez walked by.
"Hey, that's AB Hernandez," he whispered to his friend on top of the ramparts at Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis, California.
"I don't know who that is," the friend responded, before the other man filled him in.
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Hernandez was in between qualifying for events in the final round of the state championships in high jump, long jump and triple jump on Friday.
Whispers, rumors and attention had become the norm for the well-known transgender athlete. Hernandez summoned national media hurricanes to two high school track seasons and a volleyball season in the span of one year.
Daisy Gardner, a local pro-LGBTQ activist says she has known Hernandez and the athlete's mother Nereyda Hernandez since 2024, when news about the trans athlete's identity and participation in girls' sports began to garner local attention.
"I think the two of them have walked through fire. I don't know anyone else who's a high school kid who has been targeted by President Trump... I have seen death threats and threats, wishing physical injury upon AB," Gardner told Fox News Digital.
"Every single time, Nena and AB Hernandez brush it aside, and just go and do the thing that all great athletes do, which is put it out of their mind and focus on the game."
AB lived up to that reputation in one last high school competition this weekend, right after making a big political campaign debut alongside Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer on Friday morning.
Hernandez's political video and competition footage were now topics of viral debate. There was a social media firestorm raging beyond the walls of the stadium before and after Hernandez captured two state championships Saturday night, and then shared podium spots with every girl who finished one spot behind, in a growing social media punchline.
Through it all, Hernandez kept an easy smile during the competition, on the podium, and especially while interacting with the girls competing in the same events. Hernandez talked and laughed with female counterparts in between jumps.
One of the girls that was frequently close to Hernandez throughout the weekend was the daughter of California mom Jennifer Oliver.
"There was a great group there and were just being silly and supporting the other girls while jumping since there is a lot of downtime you just start hanging out," Oliver said.
Oliver does not believe biological males should compete in girls' sports. She says the topic, and a difference in views with her daughter, has been an issue at home recently.
"It is a sensitive subject somewhat at home right now because [my daughter] is young and can’t see the broader implications of males in female sports. Even when we discuss very specific cases where girls have been injured due to a male player or lost ranking etc., doesn’t really resonate yet as she has not been personally impacted and in fact has had a positive experience," Oliver said.
"She wants to be inclusive and I absolutely think that the schools have focused so much time on not triggering anyone and training on microaggressions and not misgendering anyone or you can be disciplined for that."
After Oliver spoke out against trans athletes in girls' sports in an interview the previous week, she says her daughter was confronted for the mother's comments.
"She was super upset at me. My older daughter told me that this probably created huge drama for [her] and my older daughter actually was mad at me too and said I had no idea what it is like in high school with all of the social media," Oliver said.
Oliver believes in a kind approach, that she hopes is taken by all sides.
"Two things can exist at the same time - we can be kind humans to each other regardless of gender identity and also create guidelines for sports based on biological birth. This doesn't make the people that want only biological girls in sports evil," she said.
Jolene Vayo, the mother of another girl who competed against Hernandez this past weekend and at last year's state meet, says her daughter also wouldn't dare to speak out against the trans athlete publicly, even if she privately disagrees with the concept of males in girls' sports.
"She agrees males have an unfair advantage and allowing them to compete in girls’ sports is unfair, I feel she hesitates from publicly expressing that out of fear that saying so will hurt her transgender peer’s feelings, or cause them distress," Vayo told Fox News Digital.
"I have had to talk to my daughters a number of times about the importance of advocating for your boundaries, and that they should never feel guilty if they feel something being forced on them is unfair or uncomfortable... I feel a lot of the silence from many, not just my daughters, stems from the fact that speaking about gender ideology is highly polarizing."
The story of AB Hernandez has been just as much the story of the girls who have shared the field, court and podium spots with the trans athlete in recent years. The girls who have opposed Hernandez's inclusion have been allegedly targeted with harassment and death threats, just as Gardner claimed Hernandez had.
Hernandez's former track and field opponents, including Reese Hogan, Olivia Viola, Katie McGuinness and Julia Teven are among those who have been bold enough to step forward in the "Save Girls Sports" movement.
Hogan previously told Fox News Digital she faced alleged backlash for speaking out against and protesting Hernandez's presence in girls' sports.
Hernandez's own former volleyball teammates Hadeel Hazameh and Alyssa McPherson were allegedly ostracized and targeted after taking a stand against the athlete in the fall. Hazameh previously told Fox News Digital she received a death threat over it.
"No kid should be targeted with harassment online and I'm sorry to hear that," Gardner said of the alleged attacks on the girls who have spoken up against Hernandez.
Fate scheduled Hernandez's final high school sporting event just days before the California gubernatorial primary.
Steyer's Friday video invited a new layer of scrutiny on Hernandez and the athlete's mother, as the family was officially directly standing in the political arena with a major Democratic contender.
"I'm so proud of you for what you're doing," Steyer said to Hernandez in the video.
Republican candidate Steve Hilton responded just hours later at a "Save Girls Sports" rally outside the stadium.
"Tom Steyer has taken a wildly extreme position on this issue that is totally out of touch with most California families and young people," Hilton told Fox News Digital.
Just one year earlier, Hernandez became the biggest trans athlete name in high school sports when President Donald Trump made a Truth Social post slamming Gov. Gavin Newsom for a trans athlete's participation in the girls' track and field championships.
Newsom's handling of trans athletes in California girls' sports in recent years has proved to anger both sides, previously saying the concept is "deeply unfair" while also criticizing right-wing activism to "Save Girls Sports."
As an LGBTQ activist, Gardner couldn't offer any praise to the current governor for his handling of the issue.
"I would say I want to focus on the future," Gardner said when asked her thoughts on how Newsom has managed the issue of trans athletes in girls' sports. "I'm so grateful that both [Xavier] Becerra and Steyer have come out in support of a very vulnerable minority of kids."
Meanwhile, Oliver and Vayo are taking a political but civil approach as well, as they seek to quietly remedy the issue of trans athletes in girls' sports through voting, without getting involved in protests.
"People need to get out and vote and pay attention to your local elections and speak up at school boards," Oliver said on how she hopes to address the issue.
Vayo added, "The only way this will end and women’s rights will be restored is at the ballot box. Every adult that continues to remain silent along with the majority of Democrat state leaders who approve and support this are setting a precedent and conditioning our girls to believe that males have the right-of-way when it comes to females."
Other community members have taken a more active approach in addressing the situation. During a press conference, organized by the local California LGBTQ advocacy groups Pride at the Pier and Rainbow Families Action, outside of the stadium for Hernandez's final meet on Saturday, police were summoned after a group of "Save Girls Sports" activists descended on the event and loudly disagreed with the LGBTQ activists.
Nereyda Hernandez had just given a speech, and was one of the first LGBTQ activists to leave the scene once the opposing protesters arrived. Other activists, including Gardner, stayed behind as the confrontation eventually dissipated under the police supervision. Everyone involved returned to a civil state, as activists on both sides settled down to do interviews with media, and some did the interviews right next to the activists of opposing beliefs.
It was there and then that Gardner agreed to do the interview with Fox News Digital, after a brief moment of consideration, as other LGBTQ activists had declined to do so.
It marked a step of progress in relations between the two sides compared to a more violent police-related incident that happened one year earlier.
At the 2025 California state track and field championships at the same location, when Hernandez was making the athlete's first run at the girls' state titles with a massive political spotlight, local conservative activist Josh Fulfer was assaulted by a pro-trans activist with a transgender pride flag, and footage of the attack and the activist's subsequent arrest went viral across social media as a dark reminder of the tension between the two groups.
No such known incident happened at this year's state title. And Fulfer says he forgives his assaulter.
"I forgive him. That's what the bible says to do," Fulfer told Fox News Digital. I'm just praying for that person."
But the tension between the groups has by no means simmered after this year's finals. The ramped up emotions and social aggression of a high-stakes election cycle has only amplified that tension, especially on social media.
And now, with California's primary now just one day away, Hernandez's track meet and shared-podium spots that have become an infamous viral sensation in recent weeks, are still fresh in the minds of voters.
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