Photo Essay: A transgender high school athlete navigates a fight she never asked for
2 days ago
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On the morning the Trump administration threw its weight behind a local lawsuit challenging California rules that allowed her to compete on her high school track and field team, Abi had more pressing concerns.
The 17-year-old transgender athlete was graduating that evening from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside. Her competing in girls’ hurdles had kicked up protests, and she was nervously planning one last act of high school rebellion.
Abi, center, competes in the 100-meter hurdles during a Riverside track meet in April 2025.
“The [school administration] was not allowing students to bring anything except their phones, and they were searching us before,” she said, referring to the graduation ceremony. “So I had to smuggle contraband into a high-profile event with the risk of losing my diploma that I worked so hard to get this year.”
Hours later, Abi whipped out a small transgender flag. As she walked across the graduation stage in her cap and gown, she waved it above her head despite being terrified that doing so would land her in trouble.
“I have always loved running, I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember.”
She also knew from months of fighting for her right to compete that many people in the crowd disagreed with her on transgender rights, and some were outwardly hostile. But she didn’t flinch.
It was a milestone moment for a transgender teen who dealt with — and survived — a modern American political gantlet because she “didn’t have much of a choice.”
Abi holds hands with a teammate in a prayer circle before an April 2025 track meet event in Riverside.
“No one asked me if I had the mental strength or not before they sued California over me or before they sent hundreds of students to protest against me all day,” Abi said. “I just figured everything out on the go.”
Since writing about and photographing Abi for a February story, The Times has followed her closely to capture what life is like for a teenager caught in the middle of that debate.
In February, she asked to remain anonymous given the threats to transgender athletes. But now, along with her mother, Abi agreed to have the resulting photographs, and her name, published here. Even though just days have passed since another transgender athlete — AB Hernandez — drew protests at California’s high school track and field championships. Abi did not qualify to compete.
Transgender activism “was never something I was planning on doing,” Abi said, “but I’m a fighter.”
“My experience on the track team was actually pretty good. I was friends with all the girls on my team.”
Abi, second from right, holds hands in a prayer circle with other competitors before a track meet event on April 9, 2025, in Riverside.
Abi leaves the track field after competing in three events during a track meet on April 9, 2025, in Riverside.
Abi holds a collection of her track medals in her bedroom on April 14, 2025, in Riverside.
“No one asked me if I had the mental strength or not before they sued California over me or before they sent hundreds of students to protest against me all day, I just figured everything out on the go.”
Abi spends quiet time reading after track practice in April in Riverside, California.
“I express gratitude toward most of the board for their continued support of trans people and for following the law. I listen to what people say before me, and I rebuke their claims.”
Abi, a 17-year-old transgender high school track athlete, addresses the Riverside Unified school board during public comment on Feb. 6, 2025, in Riverside.
“One person cannot take on the entire federal government. But what that one person can do is chip away at their support system.”
Abi, a transgender athlete, participates in an April 5, 2025, protest in Riverside against President Trump and his attacks on trans people.
“I was risking my diploma while putting myself in the spotlight in the middle of an openly hostile, massive, crowd, some of whom have posted threats to me online. I’m pretty sure anyone, [cisgender] or trans, minor or adult, would be terrified.”
Abi waves a trans flag after receiving her diploma on May 28, 2025, in Riverside. She graduated one year early.
“With how chaotic this year has been, and with the risk I was taking at graduation, it felt great to know that through all of that, they are still by my side and will support me with anything I do.”
Abi, with her brother next to her, hugs her great-grandmother after graduating high school one year early.
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