High school facing student uprising over ban of shirts protesting trans athletes after girls beg for safety
Students at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, are said to be planning weekly defiance against the school for rules preventing anti-trans shirts.
Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is the latest battleground in the ongoing national culture war over trans athletes in girls' sports.
Students at the school have gone viral on social media in recent weeks amid an ongoing lawsuit over two girls' cross country runners allegedly being told they can't wear t-shirts that read "Save Women's Sports." The two teenage girls heading the lawsuit allege their shirts were compared to swastikas by school administrators, while a trans athlete competes on their team and took a varsity spot from a female player.
Another student athlete on the school's cross-country team, Rylee Morrow, brought more national attention to the situation when she gave an impassioned speech at a school board meeting in November in a clip that went viral due to her conveyed fears of having to share a locker room with a biological male.
"Having a male on the team proposes genetic advantages," Morrow later said during an interview on Fox News, while lambasting her school for comparing the shirts to swastikas. "It was honestly disappointing in our staff at our school; that's a mass genocide, and to compare such a very broad term to such a horrible time in history is quite disappointing."
This past week, the situation appeared to escalate when students from the school appeared in a viral TikTok in which they said the school has instituted a new dress code to prevent students from wearing the shirts.
"When our school won't let a girl wear this shirt who lost her varsity spot for a biological male so everyone wears them and they try to not let us into school, dress code us and keep us out of class for voicing our opinion and supporting a friend. Crazy how the world works," a caption read.
The TikTok has since been deleted from the account, but it still circulates across X.
California Family Council outreach director Sophia Lorey revealed that more than 150 students have worn the t-shirts to school since the incident started, and alleged that students who refused to comply with the new dress code were forced to spend hours in the principal's office. Lorey says that those students plan to keep doing this on a regular basis despite their school's new rule.
"I received those numbers from parents directly involved," Lorey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "I then have received word on social media that the students plan to continue to do this every Wednesday."
Lorey added that she hopes this will lead more of the school's students to join the ongoing lawsuit.
"I’m deeply disappointed in the school administration for trampling on their First Amendment rights, issuing dress code violations and comparing ‘XX does not equal XY’ to wearing a swastika, simply because the students are standing up for biological reality, is disgusting. Schools should protect free speech, not punish students for defending what is right. I am looking forward to hopefully more students joining the lawsuit, and truth prevailing," Lorey said in an exclusive statement.
"Even if the school doesn’t like the message, this does not give them the ability to violate their students' First Amendment right. Earlier this year, I won my First Amendment right case, after a librarian silenced me for stating, ‘Men do not belong in women’s sports,’ and I believe we will see the same results here."
Former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines also spoke out about the situation and encouraged her followers in a post on X to reach out to the school to voice displeasure with the administration.
Julianne Fleischer, Legal Counsel at Advocates for Faith & Freedom, who is representing the two athletes involved in the lawsuit, appeared on Fox News with Morrow on Nov. 26 to speak out against the school for its stance on preventing the girls from wearing the shirts.
"They wore [the shirts] to their practice, and the athletic director told them that they needed to hide their shirt or change their shirts because that message, ‘Save Girls' Sports,’ creates a hostile environment," she explained.
The Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) provided a statement to Fox News Digital defending the decision to have the student in the school, but has not addressed its stance on the t-shirts. The RUSD also said the reason for this is because of the state laws in California in which public schools are obligated to protect trans athletes.
"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the District is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression, and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values which include equity and well-being," the statement read.
The sudden national culture movement to protect women's and girls' sports from trans inclusion has been just as much of a youth movement as it has a conservative movement since it picked up steam this year. High school students across New York reportedly planned a mass walkout event to protest trans inclusion in girls' sports back in October, according to The New York Post.
"It’s not right for boys to compete against girls in sports. It’s a huge disadvantage for girls," said Hannah Pompeo, a 16-year soccer player at Eden High School near Buffalo, ahead of the students' planned "Walk Off for Fairness Day."
California has been a particular hotbed for the movement and controversial instances involving trans inclusion this year, as the state has had laws in place to protect trans athletes that seek to compete against females since 2013.
Stone Ridge Christian High School, located in Merced, forfeited a state playoff volleyball game against a team that was said to have a biological male transgender athlete on its team. Stone Ridge Christian was commended for the decision and even held a ceremony with Gaines to celebrate the decision.
Another trans volleyball player at Half Moon Bay High School prompted the Catholic school Notre Dame Belmont to forfeit a match earlier this season, but they chose to play a rematch. That rematch reportedly included booing of the trans athlete. Notre Dame Belmont was then told it could face "consequences" for the decision of students to boo.
Meanwhile, one of the most polarizing national controversies involving trans athlete inclusion recently played out at San Jose State University this past volleyball season.
Trans player Blaire Fleming and female teammate Brooke Slusser were thrust into the controversy that garnered mainstream attention, and was even used as a campaign point in the recent presidential election, after Slusser filed two lawsuits alleging she had been made to share a bedroom and changing space with Fleming for an entire season without being told the player is a biological male.
The team saw eight of its matches forfeited, including a conference tournament match, amid the controversy, which only brought more national attention to the team as it made it all the way to the Mountain West championship game.
The issue of trans inclusion in girls' and women's sports became a massive political vulnerability for Democrats in the recent election. President-elect Trump pounced on the issue, declaring a stance in favor of a national ban on trans athletes in women's sports.
The opposition has fueled a massive culture movement, especially among young women in Democrat-controlled states with laws in place to enable trans athletes to compete against them.
The movement has become so powerful in recent months that it is now even the basis for a lucrative apparel brand, XX-XY Athletics, which has signed multiple female athletes who have endured the experience of competing against transgenders as brand ambassadors.
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