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At least eight high school volleyball teams in California have forfeited to a team with a well-known transgender athlete.
The Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD) confirmed that Patriot High School has forfeited its Sept. 26 match to Jurupa Valley High School, which rosters trans athlete AB Hernandez. Both Patriot and Jurupa Valley are within the same school district, the Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD).
“We can confirm the Patriot High School volleyball team will forfeit their September 26 match,” JUSD said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Patriot’s forfeit marked the first forfeit to Jurupa Valley by a school within its own district.
Jurupa Valley saw three forfeits in one weekend at the Freeway Games tournament on Sept. 13, with Aquinas High School, Yucaipa High School and San Dima High School refusing to play Jurupa Valley.
Prior to that, Riverside Poly High School, Rim of The World High School, Orange Vista High School and AB Miller High School all forfeited to Jurupa Valley.
Three of Hernandez’s current and former volleyball teammates have filed a lawsuit against the Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD), the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and the California Department of Education (CDE) over their experience sharing a team and locker room with the trans athlete.
The two current teammates in the lawsuit, seniors Alyssa McPherson and Hadeel Hazameh, previously told Fox News Digital they were stepping away from the team as long as the trans athlete is participating. The third plaintiff is McPherson’s older sister Madison, who graduated last year.
“Plaintiffs have been intimidated by an intentionally hostile environment created by Defendants wherein they were bullied by school officials to censor their objections to competing with, and against, a male and to sharing intimate and private spaces with a male,” the lawsuit reads.
The McPherson family, who identify as practicing Catholics, claimed to “believe that God created human beings as male and female and that gender is a fixed characteristic that cannot be changed. Their faith informs their understanding of human identity and shapes their views regarding the importance of recognizing and honoring the distinctives of male and female as created by God,” per court documents.
INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM’S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS
Meanwhile, Hazameh and her family identify as practicing Muslims “whose religious obligations prevent [Hernandez] from exposing her hair or body to males, including by wearing a hijab. Guided by Islamic teachings, they believe that men and women have distinct biological differences, roles, and responsibilities, which should be respected and upheld,” per court documents.
The JUSD has directly encouraged critics to take up the issue with government officials and lawmakers, in a statement previously provided to Fox News Digital, but the school district has not commented on the lawsuit.
“School districts do not write laws for the state of California, nor do they have the power to ignore them or change them. However, as primarily state-funded agencies, they are required to follow them. As these issues play out in our courts and the media, any advocacy on these matters should be directed at state and federal officials elected to make laws and policies that affect public education,” the statement read.
A CDE spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The California Department of Education cannot comment on this matter, as we cannot comment on pending litigation.”
The CIF has not responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for response to the lawsuit.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to the complaints by athletes and parents, suggesting the responsibility falls on the CIF, CDE and state legislature, but not on him.
“CIF is an independent nonprofit that governs high school sports. The California Department of Education is a separate constitutional office. Neither is under the Governor’s authority,” the statement read.
“CIF and the CDE have stated they follow existing state law — a law that was passed in 2013 and signed by Governor Jerry Brown (not Newsom) and in line with 21 other states. For the law to change, the legislature would need to send the Governor a bill. They have not.”
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