CALIFORNIA — Steve Hilton criticized California officials and policies supporting transgender athlete AB Hernandez during a 'Save Girls Sports' rally in May 2026, vowing to suspend Assembly Bill 1266 if elected governor. Hilton spoke at the event alongside former NCAA women’s soccer player Sophia Lorey, California state superintendent candidate Sonja Shaw, and Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown.

Hilton accused Attorney General Xavier Becerra of supporting policies he claims harm female athletes, calling him “pathetic” and “a creature of this rotten, corrupt Democrat machine.” He also criticized billionaire Tom Steyer for backing Hernandez, who attends Jurupa Valley High School and is set to compete in the California state track and field championship for the second consecutive year.

AB Hernandez won two girls’ state track titles in 2025. During the 2025 fall volleyball season, multiple opposing teams forfeited matches against Jurupa Valley’s girls’ team, and two of Hernandez’s teammates left the team and filed a Title IX lawsuit against the Jurupa Unified School District. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) reinstated a pilot program that awards any female athlete who finished behind Hernandez one spot higher in state tournament standings, a policy that will continue into the state finals.

Hilton said he would immediately suspend California Assembly Bill 1266—a 2013 law allowing students to participate in sex-segregated programs consistent with their gender identity—if elected governor, arguing it violates the state constitution. “I absolutely respect the right of people to live their lives the way they want. If parents want their children to participate in a particular way, then they should figure that out, but not in a way that hurts the majority,” he said. “People’s rights must be protected, but they can not be protected at the cost of the vast majority. You have a tiny tiny number of people who are imposing their view on the majority, and hurting them in the process, and that’s got to stop.”

A 2025 Public Policy Institute of California survey found that approximately 65% of Californians and 71% of public school parents support requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their sex assigned at birth.