West
California chiropractor defends entering man in women's surf contest to protest transgender athletes
A woman in northern California recently entered a man into a women’s surfing competition in a sarcastic protest of transgender inclusion in women’s sports. The stunt made the female contestants feel “uncomfortable,” but the woman who did it defended her decision.
Emily Pillari, a chiropractor in Santa Cruz, penned an op-ed for Look Out Santa Cruz, defending her recent stunt to sign up male surf coach Calder Nold for the recent Women on Waves (WOW) surf contest. Nold, 40, is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds.
“Certainly, the fear of offending the transgender community and its allies, and the risk that comes with doing so (more on that, below), is tying the hands and smothering many voices of reason when it comes to this discussion. By entering an apparently male surfer in Women on Waves, I sought to give people a safe chance to express their sentiments … and they did,” Pillari wrote.
The chiropractor’s op-ed was a response to another op-ed for the same outlet penned by one of the contestants who agonized about her experience competing against Nold.
The surfer who penned that piece, local author Liza Monroy, described what it felt like seeing the shirtless Nold next to her ahead of the competition.
“I competed alongside Nold that sunny Saturday morning. He wore the requisite jersey wrapped around his neck and was bare-chested and in board shorts. A participant asked why he was there. What was he trying to do or prove by competing in Women On Waves? Did he identify as a woman? Nold brushed it off, saying a friend had “nominated” him,” Monroy wrote.
SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT
“He seemed to be there to make women uncomfortable on purpose.”
Monroy also criticized Pillari for being anti-transgender, expressing pro-transgender sentiment in her piece.
“Competing against a cis man was not the intimidating part to me; I love the contest and surfing, and I’m happy to surf against anyone. What hurt me personally about his participation was the intent behind it,” Monroy wrote. “To enroll a man in a women’s event to protest the inclusion of trans women in women’s events is a harmful act, hands down.”
Monroy suggested transgender athletes are not at a physical advantage over female competitors and even criticized former college swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines for her activism in protecting women’s sports from transgender inclusion.
Nold has said the process for registering for the competition as a man did not have any barriers, and he was allowed to compete despite being male.
“We were not sneaking. We did not lie. We did not have to fabricate anything. I did not even have to identify as anything. I participated based on the exact requirements,” Nold told Reduxx. “The only place the word ‘woman’ appears is in the contest title. Everything else referred to ‘people who love the water’ or ‘people who support women’s surfing.’ That’s me. I fit that bill.”
Nold was disqualified from the competition after leading in the first two heats, but not because he is a man. Nold was disqualified because judges determined he was not wearing his jersey properly.
The issue of transgender inclusion in women’s sports became one of the nation’s most volatile political issues of the most recent election cycle, with a concentration of controversies based in northern California.
The most prominent controversy has played out 35 miles northeast of Capitola Beach, where the surf contest took place, at San Jose State University. The university’s volleyball team just wrapped up a season that stirred national controversy over a transgender athlete on the team.
San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser has filed two lawsuits alleging the university kept her teammate’s birth sex secret from her and other players while being made to share sleeping and changing spaces with that player.
Stone Ridge Christian High School, located in Merced, California, 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.
A recent lawsuit by female athletes at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, has alleged their “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts were likened to a swastika by school officials. The plaintiffs wore the shirts after a transgender athlete, who had not consistently attended practices or met key varsity eligibility requirements, was placed on the varsity team, displacing one of the girls from her spot, the complaint alleged.
A girls cross country runner at the school, Rylee Morrow, gave an impassioned plea at a school board meeting Nov. 21, saying the way things have been handled makes her feel “unsafe.”
“The whole LGBTQ is shoved down our throats,” Morrow cried.
“It is not OK that I have to be in position, and I have to see a male in booty shorts and having to see that around me. As a 16-year-old girl, I don’t see that as a safe environment,” Morrow said. “Going into a locker room and seeing males in there, I don’t find that safe. I don’t find going to the bathroom safe when there’s guys in there. It’s not OK. I’m a 16-year-old girl.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Read the full article from Here
The Denver Broncos’ 2026 schedule has arrived, with nine games on the road and eight games set for Empower Field at Mile High this season.
The Broncos are set to travel 19,129 miles this year, which ranks 15th in the NFL, according to Bill Speros of Bookies.com. Denver does not have an international game this year, which helped them rank near the middle of the pack in travel. Last season, the Broncos played in London and logged 23,267 travel miles, seventh-most in the league.
Elsewhere in the AFC West, the Los Angeles Chargers will travel 24,816 miles (seventh-most), the Las Vegas Raiders will trek 21,099 miles (13th-most) and the Kansas City Chiefs will log 18,401 miles (17th-most) in 2026.
The San Francisco 49ers (38,105) and Los Angeles Rams (34,847) are set to face off in Australia, giving them by far the most travel miles in the league. The Carolina Panthers (8,740) will have the easiest travel schedule this season.
Social: Follow Broncos Wire on Facebook and Twitter/X! Did you know: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
SEATTLE – After making one turn through a six-man rotation following the return of Bryce Miller, the Seattle Mariners are making a tweak for the next time through.
Seattle Mariners Injury Update: Latest on Cal Raleigh and more
Manager Dan Wilson said Friday the plan is for the club to piggyback Miller and fellow right-hander Luis Castillo during the next turn. The M’s have yet to decide which of the two will start.
“That’s the approach we’re going to take and we’re ready to roll,” Wilson said. “I think our guys are in a good spot in terms of getting an extra day here, and I think that’s gonna come up huge for some of these guys.”
Miller, who started the season on the injured list with a left oblique strain, made his season debut Wednesday night in Houston, tossing 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball on 81 pitches. Castillo pitched Thursday’s series finale against the Astros, allowing three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out six over 5 2/3 innings.
The pair is lined up to pitch Tuesday’s home game against the Chicago White Sox. Miller will have had five days of rest, while Castillo will have had the typical four.
Wilson said both players have been accepting of the decision.
“I think they were definitely in a good spot with it and understand it,” Wilson said. “And I think these guys, as we’ve talked about, these guys in this clubhouse, all of them want to do what’s best for the team. And these guys have really taken to that and they’re ready to go.”
Wilson acknowledged that a piggyback situation could get complicated by game flow and situations, but pointed to the potential benefit it could have in giving the bullpen a night off. Either way, it’s a situation that will be evolving for the club as they go.
“This is something that we haven’t done before, so it’s going to be a lot of waiting and seeing and understanding and assessing and making our adjustments as we go,” he said. “But in theory, you can lay it out, and you just don’t know how it’s actually going to play out. So we have to be open to different ways to proceeding, but we’ll take a look at it when we get there.”
The Mariners’ decision to go to a six-man rotation then a piggyback situation with Castillo and Miller come after widespread speculation about what the club’s plans would be when Miller returned from the IL.
When the season started, the assumption was right-hander Emerson Hancock would once again find himself as the odd man out when Miller returned. However, Hancock, a first-round pick at No. 6 overall in the 2020 draft, has earned himself a spot in the rotation during a breakout start to his season. In nine starts this year, he has a 3-2 record, 3.02 ERA and 56 strikeouts to 10 walks over 53 2/3 innings.
Castillo’s spot in the rotation started to come into question after the veteran started to struggle following a strong first start of the season. In seven starts from April 5-May 9, Castillo posted a 7.79 ERA over 32 1/3 innings and batters hit .329 against him. But his most recent start against Houston marked a step forward for the three-time All-Star and highest-paid pitcher on the Mariners’ roster.
Seattle Mariners coverage
• Seattle Mariners trade DFA’d reliever to AL West rival
• Why Cal Raleigh going on IL is good for him and the Mariners
• Why Jeff Passan likes Seattle Mariners’ plan with six-man rotation
-
World12 minutes agoColin Jost Says ‘SNL’ Rejected Joke About Pete Hegseth Reading ‘Pulp Fiction’ Bible Verse Two Weeks Before It Happened in Real Life
-
Health42 minutes agoShe Lost 94 Pounds After Ditching Sugar—‘The Food Noise Vanished’
-
Lifestyle60 minutes ago‘Wait Wait’ for May 16. 2026: With Not My Job guest Ken Jennings
-
Education1 hour agoVideo: How We Tested Dog Leashes
-
Technology1 hour agoSnap, YouTube, and TikTok settle suit over harm to students
-
World1 hour agoSeveral injured after car plows into Italy crowd, driver stabs passerby: report
-
Politics1 hour agoActBlue CEO faces June 10 grilling after fundraising powerhouse allegedly misled Congress on foreign donations
-
Health1 hour agoRudy Giuliani reveals he had ‘spiritual experience’ while in pneumonia-related coma