More forfeits hit California high school volleyball team after transgender athlete lawsuit

More forfeits were recorded against Jurupa Valley High School at last weekend's Freeway Games tournament, marking the latest development in a lawsuit filed by three current and former players alleging a hostile environment over sharing a team and locker room with a transgender teammate. The weekend forfeits followed the filing of a lawsuit by Madison and Alyssa McPherson and Hadeel Hazameh, who say they faced intimidation and pressure to censor objections to competing with, and sharing spaces with, a male athlete as part of their high school sports experience.

The forfeits at the Freeway Games tournament involved Aquinas High School, Yucaipa High School and San Dimas High School, according to Maribel Munoz, the mother of two plaintiffs in the case. Munoz told Fox News Digital that those schools forfeited to Jurupa Valley during the event in Riverside County. MaxPreps, a high school sports archive, shows Jurupa Valley was awarded a win by forfeit on Sept. 13 against Yucaipa at the tournament.

IMAGE: Jurupa Valley girls volleyball players

Before last weekend, four teams had already been confirmed to have forfeited to Jurupa Valley this season — Riverside Poly High School, Rim of The World High School, Orange Vista High School and AB Miller High School. Then, on Sept. 9, the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit with Advocates for Faith & Freedom against the Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD), the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and the California Department of Education (CDE) over the experience of sharing a team and a locker room with a transgender teammate. Alyssa McPherson and Hazameh previously told Fox News Digital they were stepping away from the team as long as the trans athlete was participating. The lawsuit contends that the plaintiffs were subjected to intimidation by school officials to censor their objections and to accept competing alongside, and sharing intimate and private spaces with, a male student.

The McPherson family, who identify as practicing Catholics, have said they believe that God created human beings as male and female and that gender is a fixed characteristic that cannot be changed. Their court filings describe their faith as guiding their view of the importance of recognizing and honoring the distinctives of male and female as created by God. Hazameh and her family identify as practicing Muslims, and the court documents say their religious obligations prevent H.H. from exposing her hair or body to males, including by wearing a hijab. They say their faith emphasizes modesty, dignity and the honoring of gender distinctions which they contend must conform with biology in both practice and identity.

Jurupa Unified School District has urged critics to take up the issue with government officials and lawmakers, saying in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that school districts cannot write laws or ignore them, and that they must follow state policy as implemented by elected officials. The district added that advocacy on these matters should be directed at state and federal officials who make and enforce policies affecting public education. The California Department of Education declined to comment on pending litigation, saying it cannot discuss ongoing court cases. The CIF has not responded to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s office provided a response that echoed the district’s stance on the matter, noting that CIF and the CDE are independent nonprofit and constitutional offices, respectively, and that the governor is not its authority. The statement said the governor’s office cannot influence the actions of those entities and that changes to state policy would require legislative action. It also reiterated that the law cited by state officials dates back to 2013 and was signed by former Governor Jerry Brown, and that any modification would require a bill passed by the legislature.

As the lawsuit unfolds, the sequence of forfeits and the ongoing legal proceedings continue to shape the conversation around gender and athletics in California high schools. The CIF, CDE and lawmakers are under renewed scrutiny as a dispute that encompasses competitive fairness, student rights and religious freedom continues to play out in courts and at public forums. The next steps in the litigation and any potential shifts in policy or guidance could influence how high school teams manage participation and facilities when a transgender athlete is on a girls’ team, and how districts balance legal compliance with the concerns of other student-athletes and families.