California state superintendent candidate Sonja Shaw was removed from a California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Council meeting Thursday in Long Beach after she stood up uninvited and demanded officials address transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports.
Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education, told OutKick that officials deemed her to be trespassing and had police called. She said the responding officers were “very nice” and did not have to intervene.
Video provided to OutKick shows Shaw confronting the council directly. “I’m here on the front lines to protect our girls and their sports,” she said, interrupting the meeting. “I’ve never been able to address you guys as a body.”
The meeting’s published agenda included a public hearing session giving speakers three minutes each. Shaw said she arrived at 9:07 a.m. and had repeatedly asked CIF officials to put transgender athlete participation on a meeting agenda, without success.
“If you think it’s okay for a boy to play against our girls in sports, which is happening, you’re Southern Section. You are the representatives to stand up and do something,” Shaw told the council. “You can fight back and stop using the state law. Federal supersedes state law.”
An official called for a brief recess, but Shaw kept talking. “How about any of you that are okay with this sit down? Any of you that want to fight the good fight and protect our girls, stand up,” she said. “Are any of you okay? You guys are all okay with this?”
As officials moved in and told her repeatedly she had to leave, Shaw called for law enforcement herself. “Call the cops, Mike. Let them escort me out,” she said. “No, you know it’s not right to let me get three minutes.”
She kept pressing council members as she was walked toward the exit, asking anyone who agreed with her to stand. “So we have one guy in the room that’s willing to fight for our girls,” she said after one attendee apparently rose.
Shaw accused the organization of ignoring female athletes who had contacted her for help. “We begged you to put it on the agenda. Why don’t you tell them the truth? How many times I asked you to put it on the agenda? You have the emails,” she said. “You guys are [a] CIF organization. You refuse to put it on the agenda and talk about it. … We have girls right now reaching out to me asking for help, and you’re sitting here acting like I’m some crazy lunatic because I’m interrupting a meeting.”
“I’m recording because I want people to see that you’re the representatives doing nothing. I don’t care about losing votes. I don’t care about a seat. The point is, none of you are willing to do anything.”
A Fight Playing Out in the Courts
The confrontation comes amid a broader clash between California and the federal government over the state’s transgender athlete policies. California law requires students be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs, including sports, consistent with their gender identity, and CIF’s participation policy follows that mandate.
The Trump administration’s Justice Department has argued the policy violates Title IX’s protections against sex discrimination and sued the California Department of Education and CIF in July 2025, alleging the rules deny female athletes equal opportunities by letting biological males compete in girls’ sports. California officials have defended their policies as consistent with state law.
A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit on Aug. 31. The court did not rule on whether allowing transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports violates Title IX, deciding instead that California lacked clear notice that excluding transgender athletes was a condition of receiving federal education funding. The Justice Department said it was evaluating an appeal.
The issue drew national attention earlier this year when transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed in the girls’ division at the CIF state track and field championships. CIF introduced a pilot process letting an additional biological female athlete advance and receive a medal in events involving a transgender competitor, but critics, including Shaw, say that accommodation does not fix the underlying unfairness.
Shaw has built her campaign around parental rights and protections for female athletes. She advanced from California’s June primary and faces San Diego Unified School District board member Richard Barrera in November’s election for state superintendent of public instruction.
CIF has not responded to a request for comment.
