Ted Cruz calls out Californians accused of jeering girls protesting volleyball game involving trans athlete

By Jackson Thompson

Published October 24, 2025

Valencia High School girls volleyball team defeats Jurupa Valley in CIF playoffs

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reshared a photo on X of two California residents who appeared to give malicious gestures to teenage girls protesting to "Save Girls' Sports" at a high school volleyball game Wednesday night.

Cruz condemned the two women in a post Friday.

"If you do this to little girls, your heart has turned entirely dark," Cruz wrote.

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Jurupa Valley players Hadeel Hazameh (left) and Alyssa McPherson, who filed a lawsuit against the Jurupa Unified School District to protest transgender player AB Hernandez, watch during a CIF Southern Section Division 5 girls volleyball playoff match against Valencia Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Placentia, Calif. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)

The original photo was taken by California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey at a state playoff game that included a biological male trans athlete competing.

The trans athlete's team, Jurupa Valley High School, lost in straight sets to Valencia High School. JVHS was bracketed into the match after finishing as co-champion of its league after at least 10 matches were forfeited this season amid a national controversy involving the trans athlete.

INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM'S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS

Save Girls Sports shirt in protest of transgender player AB Hernandez

Fans of Jurupa Valley pose during a CIF Southern Section Division 5 girls volleyball playoff match against Valencia Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Placentia, Calif. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)

Two of Jurupa Valley's senior players, Hadeel Hazameh and Alyssa McPherson, were in the stands protesting with other girls after stepping away from the team in September.

McPherson and Hazameh filed a lawsuit against the Jurupa Unified School District, citing their experience with the trans athlete on the court and in the locker room.

Multiple sources, including board Trustee Leandra Blades at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, which houses Valencia High School, confirmed to Fox News Digital that at least one of Valencia's players did not take the court on Wednesday to avoid facing Hernandez.

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Muslim, Catholic female high school athletes speak out against California transgender policies after filing lawsuit

Video

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and California Department of Education for refusing to change its transgender eligibility policies to comply with President Donald Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

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