A California high school girls’ basketball team will face a transgender athlete in a playoff game this weekend – despite President Trump’s recent executive order banning trans women from competing in women’s sports.
San Francisco Waldorf player Henry Hanlon, who is a biological male, sparked controversy last month after putting together a dominant 29-point performance against a rival school.
And now, despite Trump’s recent order – which applies to athletes in programs receiving federal funding – Cornerstone Christian will face a transgender player in a playoff game this weekend.
Fox News Digital, which reported the news, did not name Hanlon, but mentioned that the athlete also played volleyball as well, which is true of Hanlon.
‘As long as the parents are on board with playing the game, we will support the girls’ hard work this season and play the game,’ Cornerstone Christian athletic director Madison Alexander told Fox News Digital.
Hanlon also played for San Francisco Waldorf’s volleyball team in the fall, leading Stone Ridge Christian to forfeit a playoff contest in November.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports
A transgender high school basketball player nearly outscored an entire girls’ team last month
San Francisco Waldorf is a private, non-profit school, though at least one school in the Bay Counties League Central league that it plays in, Pescadero High School, is public. It’s not clear if San Francisco Waldorf gets federal funding.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares previously cited the Virginia High School League – which is comprised of private and public high schools – as an organization that would need to comply with Trump’s order, according to ESPN.
Furthermore, the measure is not expected to affect many athletes at the college level, as the NCAA’s president, Charlie Baker, said at a December congressional hearing that there were fewer than 10 trans athletes in the NCAA.
Nonetheless, San Francisco Waldorf is reportedly not the only school in California that continues to allow trans athletes to participate.
According to Fox News Digital, Trump’s Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights is currently investigating the California Interscholastic Federation for defying his order.
‘CIF sets the parameters under which schools compete in these playoffs, and they have responsibility as recipients of federal funds to comply with Title IX. OCR’s investigation into CIF is continuing as it appears that CIF’s disregard for Title IX is continuing,’ the DOE’s deputy general counsel, Candice Jackson said.
As California high schools continue to defy Trump’s order, California politicians have tried to take things into their own hands at the state level.
On Friday, Assemblymember Bill Essayli introduced a bill that would require high school students, when on school grounds, to only play on teams that correspond with their biological sex.
A law has been in place in the state since 2014 that allows students – including college athletes – to participate in sports based on their gender identity, ‘irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.’
