Media Advisory: Save Girls' Sports Press Conference in Clovis, CA

CLOVIS, CA — Olympians, Pastors, Elected Officials, and Female Athletes Will Stand Outside the CIF State Track Meet to Demand CIF Protect Girls’ Sports

WHAT: “Save Girls’ Sports” press conference, regarding female athletes competing against a male in the 2026 CIF State Track and Field Championships.

WHEN: Friday, May 29, 2026. Press conference begins at 1:00 p.m. 

WHERE: North EAST corner sidewalk at the intersection of Nees and N Minnewawa Avenue, Clovis, outside Buchanan High School, Clovis, CA.

WHO: California Family Council, joined by an Olympic athlete, a senior pastor, sitting elected officials, and candidates for statewide office.

CLOVIS, CA. On Friday, May 29, the California Family Council (CFC) will hold a press conference on the sidewalk outside Buchanan High School to call on the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to protect girls’ sports. The press conference begins at 1:00 p.m. on N. Minnewawa Avenue. Immediately following, supporters will head inside the event to cheer on the female athletes competing inside.

The 2026 CIF State Track and Field Championships run Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, at Veterans Memorial Stadium on the Buchanan High campus. AB Hernandez, a male athlete from Jurupa Valley High School, is entered to compete against girls in the long jump, high jump, and triple jump.

CFC’s message to CIF leadership is direct: CIF is not bound by state law to put boys in girls’ events. CIF Bylaw 300.D is CIF’s own policy, and CIF can change it. Federal Title IX was written to protect athletic opportunities for girls, and CIF has a responsibility to uphold that purpose.

The issue has moved to the center of the 2026 California governor’s race. The contrast between the candidates could not be sharper.

Republican candidates: stand with girls.

Steve Hilton, the Republican front-runner for governor and a confirmed speaker at Friday’s press conference, has pledged to repeal California’s transgender athlete law on day one. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair for girls who’ve worked so hard,” Hilton told CBS News. He has said his legal team believes the law violates the California Constitution’s safe-schools and anti-discrimination provisions, and that if elected he would sue if the legislature refuses to act.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, also seeking the Republican nomination, has been equally direct. “Boys should not be competing against girls. As a coach, I absolutely know that boys have no place in girls’ sports,” Bianco said in his CBS News interview, adding that as governor he would ensure no eighteen-year-old male is walking through a fourteen-year-old girl’s locker room.

Democrat candidates: side with the boys.

Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer has gone all in for keeping males in girls’ events. “To be clear, this is not some huge epidemic,” Steyer told reporters, dismissing the concerns of female athletes as “a right-wing attempt to victimize and villainize already vulnerable and desperate people.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, also running as a Democrat, has staked out the same ground. “We are a state that can accept diversity, and we will make sure that we follow the law and protect the rights of transgender athletes to participate,” he told CBS News.

Former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, when read the current state law, said, “If the rules allow an individual to play in that sport, those are the rules and you should abide by them.” Congresswoman Katie Porter said she supports the current law and would leave the question to CIF itself, the same body now being asked to change it.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa offered a narrower position, telling CBS News that males who have gone through puberty should not compete against women, though he still affirmed gender-affirming care and opposed what he called discrimination.

The State Superintendent race: same divide, same stakes.

The race to replace Tony Thurmond as State Superintendent of Public Instruction draws the same line. Sonja Shaw, the only candidate in the race who has built her campaign around protecting girls’ sports, will speak at Friday’s press conference. The leading Democrats running for the office defend the status quo.

Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board, wrote in her official Secretary of State voter guide statement that “Girls’ sports are under attack, with female athletes losing medals and scholarships. Many even change in their cars before practice because they feel unsafe in locker rooms. This is unacceptable.” At the EdSource superintendent forum she said “our daughters don’t feel safe in their locker rooms and in their sports.”

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, chair of the Assembly Education Committee and a leading Democrat in the race, has called the issue a “made-up controversy” and said he supports current law.

Former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, also a Democrat, told the EdSource forum that if he is not elected, his goal is to make sure a candidate other than Shaw wins, saying she is “very much against the principles that we as Californians have stood for repeatedly.”

San Diego Unified board member Richard Barrera, endorsed by the California Teachers Association, defended current California policy on the EdSource stage and cited estimates of 65,000 to 80,000 transgender students statewide as a reason to keep it in place.

Confirmed Speakers

What CFC Is Asking CIF to Do

“I started playing soccer at four years old. I trained through the highest levels of competitive club soccer and went on to play at the collegiate level. I know what that journey costs a girl, and I know what it gives her. CIF has its own bylaws allowing males in girls’ sports, and CIF can change them. Title IX was written to give girls a fair shot. We are showing up for the 2nd year in a row in Clovis to ask CIF to do its job, and to tell every female athlete on that track that we see her, and we are with her.”

Sophia Lorey, Outreach Director, California Family Council

Press Logistics

Media should arrive by 12:45 p.m. for staging. The press conference will take place on the North EAST corner sidewalk at the intersection of Nees and N Minnewawa, Clovis, CA. Speakers will be available for one-on-one interviews immediately following the formal remarks. B-roll of supporters, signage, and arriving athletes will be available throughout the afternoon.

Live Link to the press conference: https://x.com/sophiaslorey?s=11

For interview requests, advance questions, or to confirm attendance, contact Sophia Lorey at sophial@californiafamily.org.