Teen girls open up on trans athlete scandal that turned their high school into a culture war battleground

Taylor Starling and Kaitlyn Slavin – pupil athletes astatine Martin Luther King High School successful Riverside, California – held a unrecorded property league connected X Friday hosted California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey. The 2 girls shared their perspectives connected a caller nationalist contention that has besieged their assemblage caused by a trans jock competing connected the girls' transverse state team. 

"It was confusing, this has ne'er happened to maine before, similar I didn't adjacent deliberation this was going to beryllium happening to me," Starling said. "It was each conscionable like, surprising, that determination was going to beryllium a guy moving with the girls."

Slavin, who is lone a freshman, said the acquisition of having her archetypal twelvemonth of precocious schoolhouse impact the concern is "kind of crazy."

"Just successful precocious school, having to vie against males erstwhile you shouldn't beryllium is thing that shocked maine close away," Slavin said. 

Starling mislaid her varsity spot to a trans jock who transferred to the schoolhouse this past year, and erstwhile they wore shirts that work "Save Girls Sports" successful protest, they allege schoolhouse administrators compared the shirts to swastikas. The 2 girls and their families are present engaged successful a lawsuit against the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) implicit those allegations.

In response, hundreds of their chap students and hundreds of different residents successful the assemblage began wearing the shirts successful protest. The shirts became a local, and past nationalist awesome for the extortion of pistillate athletes from biologic antheral inclusion successful their sports and locker rooms. 

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The ensuing contention and media sum of the concern has thrust the 2 teenage girls, their families and the full municipality into the spotlight of the nationalist statement implicit trans inclusion successful women's sports, which became a hot-button governmental contented successful the 2024 predetermination year. 

And for Starling, Slavin and their classmates, it has travel with a question of attraction that they person ne'er experienced, some antagonistic and positive. 

"I've had tons of radical scope retired to maine and accidental ‘thank you truthful overmuch for what you’re doing and lasting up for these women,'" Starling said. "For my friends, a batch of my friends person been shoulder-checked due to the fact that they were wearing the shirts and a batch of them person been cursed retired and called truly atrocious names, and they posted definite worldly connected the net calling radical horrible names for wearing these shirts." 

Slavin, who says she's recovered accent alleviation successful sports passim her life, has lone recovered much accent from sports due to the fact that of the concern this year. 

"It's scary that that's not thing that tin ever beryllium a stress-relieving spot if we're going to person each this going on," Slavin said. "It affects you mentally and emotionally… It's truthful hard to person this each going on." 

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Transgender jock supporters clasp up signs astatine near arsenic Tori Hitchcock, center, of the Young Women for America, and Salomay McCullough, right, some erstwhile pistillate athletes, amusement disconnected their "Save Girls Sports" shirts arsenic an overflow assemblage converges extracurricular the Riverside Unified School District gathering Thursday nighttime to statement the rights of transgender athletes to vie successful precocious schoolhouse sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Starling says the trans jock has been utilizing the girls' restroom astatine the school, however, they haven't seen the jock overmuch successful the locker country owed to often missing practices. 

The 2 girls, and aggregate parents who person spoken to Fox News Digital, allege the trans jock was allowed to vie connected varsity contempt missing signifier each week. 

Starling's father, Ryan Starling, antecedently told Fox News Digital that erstwhile his girl and different girls approached the administrators astir it, they were told "transgenders person much rights than cisgenders." The RUSD antecedently provided a connection to Fox News Digital insisting that its handling of the concern has been successful accordance with California authorities law. 

The 2 girls past ignited a viral inclination successful their communities erstwhile they showed up to schoolhouse successful November wearing the "Save Girls Sports" shirts. 

And contempt being scolded by schoolhouse administrators for it and having to record a lawsuit, much and much students began to amusement up each week wearing the shirts, arsenic the schoolhouse had to change its formal codification and commencement placing students successful detention for wearing them. This didn't halt the shirts from spreading and growing. It became a play ritual for hundreds of students each Wednesday to amusement up wearing the shirts enactment of the girls and their messaging, and galore of them created viral societal media posts connected it. 

In aboriginal December, the schoolhouse administrators gave up connected their efforts to subject students for wearing the shirts. Sources told Fox News Digital that much than 400 students person shown up wearing the shirts astatine a time, and students astatine different schools successful the territory person started to deterioration them to class.

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Students astatine Martin Luther King High School successful Riverside, California deterioration t-shirts that work "Save Girls' Sports" to protestation a trans jock connected the transverse state team. (Courtesy of Sophia Lorey)

But Slavin, Starling their lawyer Julianne Fleischer, said the schoolhouse administrators person inactive told the 2 girls that they aren't allowed to deterioration the shirts, during the property league connected Friday. However, they besides said much than 400 students astatine their schoolhouse person continued to amusement up wearing the shirts each Wednesday.

The concern culminated successful a heated and confrontational lawsuit connected Dec. 19, erstwhile the RUSD held a schoolhouse committee gathering to code the issue. Prior to the meeting, extracurricular the territory office, determination were competing protests betwixt activists and parents wearing the "Save Girls Sports" shirts and LGBTQ activists. 

Sources, including Ryan Starling, have told Fox News Digital that the LGBTQ activists astatine the lawsuit were harassing the "Save Girls Sports" protesters, and adjacent disrupted a women's supplication radical during a supplication ellipse anterior to the meeting. 

"Members of the pro-LGBTQ groups started heckling and harassing the radical successful enactment who were speaking successful absorption of their values. Some of these big protesters were adjacent coming up to the young girls that were going to beryllium speaking and were yelling astatine them adjacent to their face," Young Women for America (YWA)'s Inland Empire section President Tori Hitchcock told Fox News Digital.

One anonymous genitor told Fox News Digital astir witnessing a kid being bombarded with vulgar insults by pro-trans protesters aft the meeting.

Transgender jock protagonist Kyle Harp, left, of Riverside holds the advancement  pride emblem arsenic "Save Girls Sports" supporters Lori Lopez and her dada Pete Pickering, some of Riverside, perceive to the statement arsenic they articulation the overflow assemblage converging extracurricular the Riverside Unified School District gathering Thursday nighttime to statement the rights of transgender athletes to vie successful precocious schoolhouse sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

"My 16-year aged lad and a fewer others were lasting extracurricular aft speaking erstwhile a radical of the LGBTQ assemblage intentionally walked by them pointing astatine each 1 of them saying, ‘FU FU FU,’" the anonymous genitor said. 

Then, wrong the meeting, parents and opposing activists gave impassioned speeches astir their thoughts connected the situation, with aggregate speakers yelling successful hysterical tones. The gathering went connected for astir 5 hours, and included grounds betwixt individuals who opposed trans inclusion successful girls' sports and those who supported it. 

Many of the pro-trans speeches were met with high-pitched cheers and the waiving of LGBTQ pridefulness flags by those successful attendance. 

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The RUSD antecedently provided a connection to Fox News Digital insisting that its handling of the concern has been successful accordance with California authorities law. 

"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the District is committed to complying with the instrumentality and CIF regulations. California authorities instrumentality prohibits favoritism of students based connected gender, sex individuality and sex expression, and specifically prohibits favoritism connected the ground of sex successful carnal acquisition and athletics. The protections we supply to each students are not lone aligned with the instrumentality but besides with our halfway values which see equity and well-being," the connection said. 

The RUSD besides placed blasted for its handling of the concern connected officials successful Washington D.C., and California's authorities capital, Sacramento. They made this connection backmost successful aboriginal December, anterior to President Donald Trump returning to office. 

"Save Girls Sports" supporters Skylar Crawford, left, and Jadeynn Gallardo, some of Martin Luther King High School, and Tori Hitchcock, right, of Young Women for America, commune among the overflow assemblage converging extracurricular the Riverside Unified School District gathering Thursday nighttime to statement the rights of transgender athletes to vie successful precocious schoolhouse sports Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

"As these matters play retired successful our courts and the media, absorption and protests should beryllium directed astatine those successful a presumption to impact those laws and policies (including officials successful Washington D.C. and Sacramento)," their connection read. 

Trump has pledged to prohibition trans athletes from competing successful girls' and women's sports, arsenic a national measure titled The Protection of Women and Girls successful Sports Act is presently progressing done congress. It has already passed successful the House of Representatives.

Until that measure is perchance signed into law, Slavin and Starling are asking their supporters to "pray" for them. 

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