Given how polarized the United States has become on just about , its understandable that many people are often tricked into thinking that their positions must be absolute⦠all, or nothing.
You are either fully with something, or youre against it. No in between.
The seems to work a lot like that. Any dissent, any disagreement with any part of it can lead to instant accusations of transphobia, hate and bigotry.
Devoted track mom Jennifer Oliver, while speaking to OutKick about the issue of biological males in womens sports, bravely turned that notion on its head.
Oliver may not like it that , a biological male from Jurupa Valley, prevented her daughter, Nieve Oliver, a sophomore from Camarillo, from earning the top spot on the podium in the high jump at the girls’ high school state qualifying track meet on Saturday at Moorpark High School, northwest of Los Angeles.
But Oliver says that doesnt mean that she also dislikes Hernandez, or the way Hernandez has chosen to do life. It also doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have compassion and empathy for Hernandez.
“Theres no hate,” Oliver said. “None of that. My daughter is super inclusive. We get along with everybody. This has nothing to do with any of that. But we also need to do the right thing. My daughter is hoping the adults in charge will do the right thing.”
So what is the right thing?
For advocates of protecting girls and womens sports, like Oliver, its easy. Fairness. Safety. Respect.
Oliver believes that girls are deprived of all of that the second a biological male is allowed in their spaces, and in their sports.
Hernandez, who year in girls track (high jump and triple jump), is now in position to earn three more titles. At Saturdays state qualifying meet, Hernandez won not only high jump and triple jump but long jump as well. Hernandez will compete in those events in the state meet next weekend at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
Meanwhile, Nieve Oliver will also compete at state in the high jump. But she and four other girls who jumped 5-foot-6 in Moorpark were deprived of being able to say they had the best qualifying jump of the day, because Hernandez jumped 5-foot-8.
“The adults need to make the right decision here. Period. Hands down. And so far, thats not happening,” Oliver said. “Thank goodness high jump is not a contact sport. My daughter plays girls flag football, too. Im very concerned that if there was an issue like this in flag football, I dont think Id let her compete. It wouldnt be safe.”
Likewise, Oliver doesnt believe that a in any sport is fair. She thinks that the state of Californias willful disregard of President Donald Trumps executive order from February of 2025 that prohibits men in womens sports will be eventually addressed by the courts.
“Its like, what can we (parents) really do right now,” Oliver asked in frustration. “We can wait for the season to be over and we can hope that well see this play out in the courts and we can only hope that the courts get it right. Thats really what needs to happen.”
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To hedge its bets, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) created a rule in which, during the later rounds of the state track meets, a trans athlete who wins an event on the podium with the highest-placing female, which reads as almost a soft acknowledgment that this situation is problematic at its core.
“I think the bottom line is that everyone knows who won, we all know,” Oliver said of the shared podium farce. “And you kind of feel bad for AB in that way. I mean, this is not about the person (AB). Not at all. Its not about a certain community. Its not about any of that. Its just thatâ¦it should have never gotten to this point in the first place.
“Biology is bio