Members of a Washington state high school girls’ cross-country team are speaking out about what has become a national controversy surrounding their transgender teammate.
Against the backdrop of a statewide anti-trans sports ban on the November ballot, the members of the Camas High School girls’ cross-country team have been thrust into the national spotlight thanks to anti-trans activists’ social media posts about a transgender student who joined the team in September after beginning the season competing on the boys’ team.
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It remains unclear exactly when the trans runner, a junior, came out as trans or whether she is receiving gender-affirming care. So far, neither she nor her parents have spoken to the media. But that has not stopped some anti-trans influencers and advocates from naming her in their posts, some of which also include photos and videos that clearly show her face, and suggesting that she joined the girls’ team to gain an unfair advantage.
According to the Seattle Times, which spoke to five members of the team this week, the media attention has forced the school district to implement safety measures, including chartering an unmarked bus to a recent meet, instructing team members not to wear school apparel in their downtime, and having police at team events. Another recent event reportedly had to be relocated due to safety concerns.
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All five members of the team who spoke to the Times – including three who ended their season early and at least one who participated in an October 13 walk-off in protest of the trans runner’s inclusion – said the controversy had taken a toll on them and their teammates.
“I feel like a lot of the issue with this was generally with the media,” said a junior runner who has been friends with the trans runner since middle school. “I’m not saying that people wouldn’t have had these opinions, but I don’t know if we would have had a walkout without the media because before the media got involved, there was no discomfort being shown by the team.”
“A lot of the people reporting on the situation are reporting it with very malicious intent,” another friend of the trans runner said. “They are going out of their way to attack the character of our girls… I think the news has very much skewed a lot of things about the situation for publicity.”
She and others also blamed the media attention for the altered dynamic within the team.
“Previously, our seasons have been really fun and exciting,” said a third girl who left the team. But this season, she said, “You’re not really interacting as much with your teammates, and everyone’s kind of focused on themselves or not saying anything like wrong for the team… It’s been very stressful.”
“I do cross-country purely for fun, and the fun was not there anymore,” she added, while also asserting that she felt the team wasn’t competing fairly with a trans girl on the team.
A senior team captain who also ended her season early said she feels there is a balance to be struck between maintaining “fairness in girls’ sports” and ensuring that “everybody has a place where they feel safe and comfortable competing.”
“I don’t think those two things need to contradict each other, but it’s definitely not a nonissue,” she said. But she did say she feels it is “very unfair to have to compete against a biological male,” citing her belief that “their biology is different” and “they are able to run faster.”
A fifth runner who participated in the walk-off earlier this month seemed to insinuate that her trans teammate isn’t really trans. “Being transgender, I’m all for,” she said, “but if you’re not going through and trying to be that and just declaring that you’re a male in female sports, I think it’s very hard.”
“I just don’t think it’s fair that boys are running with girls,” she said.
The Times also spoke to a member of the Camas High boys’ cross-country team, who said that people in the community are losing sight of the real person at the center of the controversy. “People seem to be losing the ability to just be kind and rational,” he said.
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