Riley Gaines Called It Psychological Abuse and California Just Proved Her Right

May 21, 2026 Cat2, Politics
Krakenimages.com via shutterstock

Gavin Newsom admitted it was "deeply unfair" to let men compete against women in sports.

Then California did it again anyway – this week, right in front of the cameras.

Now the TPUSA CEO who replaced Charlie Kirk just named what California is actually doing to these girls – and she called it exactly what it is.

The Shared Podium That Broke the Internet

AB Hernandez – a biological male competing as a girl – swept the high jump, long jump, and triple jump at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section finals in Moorpark on May 16, winning each event by wide margins.

So California's solution was a "pilot program" that placed the top-finishing girl on the podium next to Hernandez – announcing both as co-champions.

The girls stood there and smiled.

Riley Gaines, the 12-time NCAA All-American who has been fighting this battle longer than most people knew it existed, watched the video and put it plainly: "If you have to create a shared podium for the boy competing in the girls' event, you've already admitted you know he isn't a girl and that his participation is unfair."

Then she said the thing nobody in power will say out loud: "At this point, you're just seeking a public humiliation ritual for the girls."

Crean Lutheran athlete Olivia Viola – who competed against Hernandez – went on America's Newsroom and called the co-champion policy exactly what it is: "Nothing but a band-aid fix."

She pointed out the ugly truth California doesn't want you to notice.

The rule only applies to the final CIF state-qualifying meets.

Not league competition.

Not outside meets.

Not other sports.

Every displacement that happened before this weekend – gone, unaddressed, uncompensated.

"It doesn't actually undo all of the displacements that have happened throughout their entire league," Viola said.

Erika Kirk Did Not Hold Back

Erika Kirk – the new CEO of Turning Point USA – saw the podium photos and didn't write a policy memo.

She fired off what conservatives have been thinking since California decided its 2013 anti-discrimination law outranks common sense, federal law, and the evidence of your own eyes.

"Democrats claim to champion women's rights, yet they allow men to infiltrate women's spaces under the guise of identity politics," Kirk wrote on X. "Then they gaslight anyone who questions it and smear women as 'transphobic' for defending basic reality. The hypocrisy is astounding."

She wasn't finished.

"A society that can no longer recognize or honor that truth is not just losing fairness in sports – it is losing its understanding of G-d's creation and, with it, its humanity."

That's not a talking point.

That's a diagnosis.

California Defied Trump and Got the Diagnosis Right

This isn't the first time California has done this and been warned.

Last June, Education Secretary Linda McMahon formally declared California in violation of Title IX – the same federal civil rights law Democrats wave around when it's convenient – and gave the state a 10-day deadline to strip Hernandez's 2025 state championship titles or face the loss of federal funding.

California refused.

The DOJ sued.

Newsom's office responded by mocking McMahon's WrestleMania experience.

The CIF's official statement this week: "The CIF values all our student-athletes, and we will continue to uphold our mission in providing students the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete, while complying with California law."

They didn't mention the girls who lost.

They didn't mention the three events swept.

They mentioned belonging.

This weekend, Hernandez advances to the CIF state preliminaries – with a clear path back to the state finals in Clovis on May 29.

The same competition where Trump threatened funding cuts last year.

The same competition California defied him to hold.

The Pattern California Refuses to See

This is the second straight year this story has played out identically.

Trans athlete dominates.

Girls get displaced.

California creates a new "co-champion" rule that makes the optics slightly better while changing nothing about the competition itself.

Trump administration threatens consequences.

California says it's complying with state law and calls the federal government dramatic.

McMahon warned California that it was allowing males to "steal female athletes' well-deserved accolades and subject them to the indignity of unfair and unsafe competitions."

Newsom's director of communications called it "dramatic, fake, and completely divorced from reality."

Reese Hogan – the Crean Lutheran girl who stood next to Hernandez on the high jump podium – didn't get a choice about whether to participate in California's social experiment.

She just showed up to compete.

What Erika Kirk understands – what Riley Gaines has been saying for years – is that the co-champion rule isn't a compromise.

It's an admission.

California built a two-winner system because they know a biological male winning a girls' championship is indefensible.

They built the workaround to survive the photos.

But they kept him in the competition anyway.

That's not inclusion.

That's Gavin Newsom deciding that his political commitments to trans activists matter more than the girls standing on that podium – girls who trained for years, followed every rule, and got told to smile for the camera next to the boy who beat them.

Erika Kirk said California is losing its humanity.

Looking at that podium, it's hard to argue she's wrong.

Sources:

  • Jackson Thompson, "California championship track meet forces trans athlete to share top podium spot with female," Fox News, May 16, 2026.
  • Staff, "High school athlete slams CIF's shared podium rule as humiliating response that fails female competitors," OutKick, May 18, 2026.
  • Staff, "California trans athlete podium controversy ignites outrage among politicians, activists," OutKick, May 17, 2026.
  • Craig Bannister, "Riley Gaines: Calif. Transgender Athlete Podium Sharing Is 'Psychological Abuse,'" NewsBusters, May 18, 2026.
  • Staff, "California violated Title IX over trans athletes, Trump administration says," KTLA, June 25, 2025.
  • Mitch Stephens, "Trump administration gives California (CIF) 10-day deadline to rescind awards from transgender athletes," Sports Illustrated, June 2025.