Washington runners stage walk-off over 'trans' competitor

About a dozen members of the Camas High School female cross-country team walked off the course at a league meet Oct. 13 rather than race alongside a transgender teammate, a protest that has drawn national attention ahead of a statewide vote on girls’ sports.

“I don’t see how it’s OK to discriminate against my daughter and the daughters of everyone else,” said Kevin Burns, whose daughter took part in the walkout, according to an interview with OutKick.

“I think if only a couple of girls had walked off it, they would have lost some opportunities. And I don't think it would have mattered so much. But so many of them …” Burns added. “And I want you to remember that several of the girls, such as the team, team captains, had quit before this. So there really was a lot more girls than you see in the video that were protesting this.”

Video of the protest showed around half the team’s 24 runners joining the protest. The runner competed in a boys’ race Sept. 5, joined the girls team later that month, and subsequently placed second in a junior varsity competition and first place in a varsity girls’ race. 

KUOW reported that a meet involving Camas High was moved over security concerns. The runner’s family did not respond to KUOW’s request for comment, and the runner, a minor, has not been named. Camas Superintendent John Anzalone said the girls who walked off will not be penalized, according to the Daily Signal.

The eligibility rule is not Camas School District’s own policy. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which governs high school sports statewide, has let students compete according to their gender identity for about two decades, and the district cited that policy, along with a state law barring gender identity discrimination in public schools, in an Oct. 8 statement provided to the Seattle Times. The association says it knows of no more than about 10 transgender athletes participating statewide each year, though schools are not required to report them.

“The WIAA cannot implement a policy that is in violation of Washington state law,” the association told OutKick, adding that its executive board would revise its rules if state law changed. Three proposed amendments to limit the policy have failed to reach the 60% vote needed in the past two years, the outlet reported. 

A Puyallup family is also challenging the policy in federal court, and the Ninth Circuit denied an emergency injunction Sept. 25, Zeale News reported.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 30 that states may bar transgender athletes from girls’ teams, but that does not change Washington law.  

That could change Nov. 3, when voters decide Initiative 638, sponsored by Let’s Go Washington. It would require school boards or non-profits to “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students” and have a health care provider verify a student’s sex during their sports physical. 

The U.S. Catholic bishops have backed limiting girls’ sports to female athletes. In a 2023 letter signed by Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly and Bishop Robert Barron, they urged Congress to pass the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Bishop Barron and Bishop David O’Connell reiterated that support in 2025, calling the bill “commonsense legislation that would ensure fairness for female athletes.”