Taylor Starling and Kaitlyn Slavin – Student athletes at Martin Luther King High School In Riverside, California – a living press conference at X Friday worth California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey. The two girls shared their perspectives on a new national controversy that has besieged their society caused by a trans -athlete who competed in the girls’ cross country team.

“It was confusing, this has never happened to me before, as if I didn’t even think this would happen to me,” Starling said. “It was all that, surprisingly, that it would be a guy running with The girls. “

Slavin, who is just a beginner, said that the experience of having his first year in high school involves the situation is “type of crazy.”

“Only in high school, having to compete against men when you shouldn’t be is something that shocked me right away,” Slavin said.

Starling lost his varsity place to a trans athlete who transferred to school over the past year, and when they wore shirts who read “Save girls sports” in protest, they claim school administrators compared the shirts with Swastikas. The two girls and their families are now engaged in A trial Against Riverside Unified School District (Rusd) over these accusations.

In response, hundreds of their fellow students and hundreds of other residents in the community began to carry the shirts in protest. The shirts became a local and then national symbol of protection of female athletes from biological male inclusion in their sports and changing rooms.

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The subsequent controversy and the co-coverage of the situation have thrown the two teenage girls, their families and the entire city in the limelight for the national debate on trans-disabilities in women’s sports, which became a political issue in the hot button during the election year 2024.

And for Starling, Slavin and their classmates, it has come with a wave of attention that they have never experienced, both negative and positive.

“I’ve got lots of people to reach out to me and say” thank you so much for what you do and stand up for these women, “said Starling.” For my friends, many of my friends have been shoulder controlled because they wore the shirts And many of them have been cursed and called really bad names, and they published some things on the internet that called people horrible names to carry these shirts. ”

Slavin, who says she has found stress in sports throughout her life, has only found more stress from sports because of the situation this year.

“It’s scary that it’s not something that can always be a stress -relieving place if we will get all this going on,” Slavin said. “It affects you mentally and emotionally … It’s so hard to have everything going on.”

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Transgender -athletes -Supporters hold up signs to the left when Tori Hitchcock, Centrum, by Young Women for America, and Salomay McCullough, right, both former female athletes, show off their “Save Girl Sports” shirts when an overflow is collected outside Riverside Unified Unified School District Meeting Thursday evening to debate Transperson’s sports law rights to compete in high school on Thursday, December 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Starling says that the trans athlete has used the girl’s toilet at school, but they have not seen the athlete much in the dressing room because of often missing methods.

The two girls, and several parents who have talked to Fox News Digital, claim that the Trans athlete had to compete at Varsity despite missing exercise every week.

Starling’s father, Ryan Starling, previously told Fox News Digital that when his daughter and other girls contacted the administrators about it, they heard “Transgenders have more rights than cisgenders.” Rusd previously gave a statement to Fox News digital insistence that its handling of the situation has been in accordance with California’s state law.

The two girls then ignited a viral trend in their communities when they showed up to school in November with the shirts “Save girls sports”.

And even though they were barked by school administrators for it and had to submit a mood, more and more students began to emerge each week Wear the shirtsBecause the school had to change their dress code and start placing students in jail to wear them. This did not prevent the shirts from spreading and growing. It became a week ritual for hundreds of students every Wednesday to show up with the shirts support from the girls and their messages, and many of them created viral social media posts on it.

In early December, the school administrators are gave up About their efforts to discipline students to wear the shirts. Sources told Fox News Digital that more than 400 students have appeared with the shirts at a time, and students at other schools in the district have started carrying them to the class.

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Students at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California wears t-shirts that read “Save girls’ sports” to protest against a trans athlete in the cross country team. (With the state of Sophia Lorey)

But Slavin, Starling his lawyer Julianne Fleischer, said that the school administrators have still told the two girls that they must not carry the sweaters during the press conference on Friday. But they also said that more than 400 students at their school have continued to show up with the shirts every Wednesday.

The situation culminated with a heated and confronting event on December 19, when Rusd held a school board meeting to deal with the issue. Before the meeting, outside the district office, there were competing protests between activists and parents who wear “Save girls sports” shirts and LGBTQ activists.

Sources, including Ryan Starling, have told Fox News Digital that the LGBTQ activists at the event harassed the protesters “Save girls sports” and even disturbed a female prayer group during a prayer circle before the meeting.

“Members of the Pro-LGBTQ groups began to heckla and harass the people in line that spoke as opposed to their values. Some of these adult protesters even came to the young girls who would talk and scream at them close to their face”, ” Young Women for America (Ywa )’s inner empire chapter President Tori Hitchcock told Fox News Digital.

An anonymous parent told Fox News Digital about witnessing a child who is bombarded with vulgar insults of pro-trans demonstrators after the meeting.

Transgender Athlete -Supporter Kyle Harp, to the left, from Riverside Keeps Progress Pride Flag such as “Save Girls Sports” supporters Lori Lopez and her father Pete pickling, both in Riverside, listen to the debate as they go with the abundance that converge outside Riverside Unified School District meeting on Thursday evening to debate the rights of transgender people to compete in high school’s sports on Thursday 19 December 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“My 16-year-old son and some others stood outside after talking when a group of LGBTQ community intentionally went by them and pointed to each of them and said, ‘Fu Fu Fu,'” said the anonymous parent.

Then, inside the meeting, parents and opposite activists gave suffering speech about their thoughts on the situation, with several speakers screams in hysterical tones. The meeting continued for almost five hours and included testimonies between individuals who opposed trans -inclusion in girls’ sports and those who supported it.

Many of the pro-trans stations met with high cheer and refrain from LGBTQ-pride flags by those present.

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Rusd previously gave a statement to Fox News digital insistence that its handling of the situation has been in accordance with California’s state law.

“Although these rules were not created by Rusd, the district is undertaken to comply with the law and CIF regulations. Physical education and athletics.

Rusd also places the obligation for his handling of the situation on Washington DC and California’s state capital, Sacramento. They made this statement in early December, before President Donald Trump returned to the service.

“Save Girls Sports” supporters Skylar Crawford, left, and Jadeynn Gallardo, both by Martin Luther King High School, and Tori Hitchcock, right, by young women for America, prays the abundance that converges outside Riverside Unified School District Thursday evening night to debate the rights of transgender people to compete in high school sports on Thursday, December 19, 2024. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“Since these issues play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be able to influence them to influence these laws and policies (including Washington DC and Sacramento) officials,” read their statement.

Trump has promised to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, as a federal bill entitled The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act is currently progressing through Congress. It has already been in the House of Representatives.

Until that bill, potentially signed by law, Slavin and Starling are asking their followers to “pray” for them.

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