AB Hernandez won first place at the semifinals last weekend and is scheduled to compete in the girls' track and field championship in Clovis.
But during a news conference Thursday afternoon, several lawmakers in the Central Valley called for Hernandez to be removed from the competition.
"The CIF, [Gov. Gavin Newsom] and the state legislature have failed our female athletes," said Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce. "There is a distraction that hangs like a cloud over this weekend's events. Allowing boys into girls' sports puts their achievements, opportunities and even safety at risk."
Lawmakers brought up the proposed Senate Bill 622, which would segregate sports programs based on the "pupil's sex at birth."
No votes have been held on the legislation yet.
"Only in California could such an absurd and dangerous policy not only be allowed, but celebrated," said Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld. "This is not inclusion. This is insanity, and it must stop."
The controversy over the issue exploded earlier this week when President Donald Trump weighed in on the matter in a social media post, threatening to pull massive amounts of federal funding from California for continuing to "illegally allow men to play in womens' sports."
The CIF has already made a number of changes to how girls qualify and place this weekend. First, they allowed any athlete who may have been bumped from qualifying because Hernandez placed ahead of them to compete in the finals.
Second, they're allowing any athlete who gets bumped from the podium this weekend if Hernandez places ahead of them to be awarded a medal anyway.
Meanwhile, one supporter of LGBTQ+ rights who attended the news conference found some of the comments to be disgusting.
"I'm not here to get into the weeds on the competition itself, but I'm here to support LGBTQ people, and to call out inappropriate language," said Clovis resident Stetler Brown. "The other thing I want to do is tell the community, and especially trans people, that they are welcome in this world; they belong in this world and they are loved."
Nationwide debate over trans athletes' participation
A recent AP-NORC poll found that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults think transgender female athletes should not be allowed to participate in girls and women's sports at the high school, college or professional level. That view was shared by about 9 in 10 Republicans and roughly half of Democrats. Trump won Fresno County, where the meet will be held, in 2024.
Hernandez told the publication Capital & Main earlier this month that she couldn't worry about critics.
"I'm still a child, you're an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person," she said.
She noted that she has lost some of her events, saying that disproved arguments that she can't be beat.
Hernandez is expected to perform well, particularly in the triple jump, in which she has a personal best of over 41 feet (12.5 meters). That is more than 3 feet (1 meter) short of a national record set in 2019. She's the fifth seed in the long jump but ranked much lower in the high jump.
California's state championship stands out from that of other states because of the number of competitors athletes are up against to qualify.
More than 57,000 high schoolers participated in outdoor track and field in California during the 2023-2024 school year, according to a survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations. California had the second-largest number of high school outdoor track-and-field athletes, only behind Texas.
Of the 12 high school athletes who have set national records in the girls triple jump between 1984 and 2019, eight have been from California, according to the national sports governing body.
Davis Whitfield, the national federation's chief operating officer, called a state championship "the pinnacle" for high school student-athletes.
"It's certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience in some cases to participate in a state championship event," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.