Washington parents find their courage as girls walk off cross country course in protest of trans runner
CAMAS, Wash. — The sign seemed innocuous enough. So did the man holding it. But a passing jogger apparently saw things differently.
Outside a district cross country meet in which a biological male was competing against girls, Steve Lynch held a sign that read: "Coached X-C & Track for 24 years. If you have questions about the differences between Girls & Boys...answers given here FREE of charge!"
But as Lynch began explaining those differences, the jogger shouted: "Jesus loves a firing squad! Go kill Muslims! Go kill trans people! That's your rhetoric, right? F--- you!"
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Lynch didn't even flinch. In fact, he smiled.
"Oftentimes I have to deal with that," he said.
Lynch represents courage on this issue, which is something many adults lack. Over the past few weeks, it's been mostly students, not grown-ups, who have led the opposition to a Camas High cross country runner competing against girls after starting the season on the boys team.
But a rally outside Wednesday's meet — where the boy finished second among a field of 25 to help lead Camas to the girls district championship — showed that the adults are catching up in the bravery department.
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There looked to be more than 100 grown-ups, maybe 200, in attendance — mostly dressed in garb advocating for the separation of males and females in sports. At the heart of the rally was Initiative 638 — a Nov. 3 ballot measure in Washington state that would enforce such separation in K-12 athletics.
People such as Sarah Burns, the mother of a Camas runner who walked off the start line in protest last week, never imagined herself playing the role of activist when the cross country season began. But now she finds herself at the center of one of the most contentious debates in Washington state.
"I was just a mom going to watch her daughter, and then we found out what was happening, and I couldn't not say something," said Burns, wearing an XX-XY Athletics shirt. "These are teenage girls that should be able to be teenage girls and run and compete in their sport and not have their achievements taken from them."
Burns was not the only Camas parent willing to speak out on Wednesday. Also in attendance was Sarah Babb, whose daughter Madeline walked off the start line last week as well. Like Burns' daughter, Holly, Madeline had no idea her actions would prompt such widespread media attention. But as reporters from across the nation showed up to cover Wednesday's rally and meet, Sarah was no longer feeling quite so isolated.
"As a mom who comes to these races all season long, it feels very alone as I stand there and go, 'This is awful,'" Babb said. "So it was great to see such support last week, and this is wild this week. It's hard to be the quiet majority, to feel like we're being bullied into silence. I think a lot of people feel that way. I know it's scary. It's scary."
It certainly can be. Over the past couple weeks that I've been covering this story, most parents have been reluctant to speak — even anonymously. Many have expressed fear of losing their jobs, and one even said, "I don't want my house burned down."
It's easy to catastrophize, especially when you see how vicious opponents of the Protect Women's Sports crowd can be. There was the aforementioned jogger. There was the Golden State Valkyries fan who told an XX-XY shirt-wearer to "f---ing kill yourself" at a WNBA Finals game last week. There was the Seattle Storm co-owner telling a girl with the same shirt that she's "f---ing insane" in July, bringing that girl to tears.
Surely one can see why parents would want to sit this issue out, right? Women's sports advocate Amy Sousa isn't so sure.
"I don't have a lot of patience for adults who are willing to let the girls take the hits," Sousa said. "If these girls are willing to stand up to their peers, I think adults can stand up to theirs. And if they can't do it in public, at least they can do it at the ballot."
There were some people at Wednesday's rally very much against I-638. One was a woman named Stephanie, who didn't want her last name used but was cordial with me and my photographer.
She said the measure would require invasive genital exams to prove one's sex, which is not true. When I mentioned that there were other options such as cheek swabs, she argued that that would be too expensive and that there weren't enough trans athletes for such testing to be worthwhile. When I mentioned all the female athletes speaking out against having to compete against biological males as a matter of fairness, she offered the following:
"Fairness is reasonable, and I do think there should be rules. Even in the Olympics, each sport can set up certain rules. I don't want to wrestle with somebody who's got 40 pounds on me, whether they're male or female," Stephanie said. "But that's about size, not just about what gender you're born."
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Come on, though. It's more than about size, isn't it? How many women under 6'4" have you seen dunk a basketball? Yet there are countless men under that height who can. Biology matters in every sport.
In fact, it was a difference in biology that ultimately led Camas High senior Kate Westfall — the fastest girl on the cross country roster — to quit the team earlier in the month. Westfall won districts last year. She had bigger aspirations in her final high school season. But she walked away from it all because she felt racing against a boy simply wasn't fair.
So Wednesday, her parents — Joe and Jennie — showed up to districts in protect-women's-sports attire to honor their daughter's courage.
"She made the brave decision to forgo the rest of her senior season and give up opportunities in order to bring awareness to the impact the current state policy is having on females who are being forced to compete in this unfair environment," Jennie said. "As her parents, we are proud of her courage and are honored to stand with her."
Jennie and Joe admit to a fear of backlash. But that's the thing about courage — without fear, it doesn't exist.