AB Hernandez on years of scrutiny: ‘You never decide to be a trans athlete’
AB Hernandez (Getty Images)
Transgender track star AB Hernandez has reflected on a year of national scrutiny, saying the support of her teammates and family far outweighed the protests against her.
The athlete, who recently graduated from Jurupa Valley High School in California, was speaking on Thursday, 25th June, at a panel on transgender student-athlete inclusion, part of San Francisco Pride’s Human Rights Summit.
Hernandez said she had been nervous heading into her senior year, having been outed as transgender the previous spring, when her presence at the state championships drew heated protests.
But her first meet of the new season proved “such a positive atmosphere”, with other athletes asking for photos and one stepping aside to let her go ahead during warm-ups. She finished her high school career in May with two more state titles, taking her to seven state medals in total.
Under pressure from activists and federal officials, the California Interscholastic Federation had introduced a policy requiring her to share the podium whenever she beat a cisgender athlete. She said it was disappointing to be singled out.
Her mother was more forceful: “AB put in all the work… and she got put aside. It was heartbreaking.”
Despite the attention, Hernandez said she felt protected by the support around her. “You never really decide to be a trans athlete,” she said, as per the San Francisco Chronicle. “You just go out to play a sport. I wanted to join sports because of my friends. So for me it was more about the connections and the friendships.”
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