Washington girls deserve sex-based sports. Chris Reykdal dismissed the fairness question
On Oct. 14, Reykdal brushed aside the fairness question after a student switched from the boys’ team to the girls’ race and finished second.
Washington must protect girls’ sports by sex, and its top education official has refused to say that the race was unfair to girls. Asked whether the race was fair to the girls, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal replied, “I don’t see it that way, Jake. I just don’t.”1 KIRO Newsradio reported that a student who placed 76th while running on the boys’ cross-country team switched to the girls’ team and finished second, and that girls on the opposing team forfeited.
“I don’t see it that way, Jake. I just don’t.”
Girls forfeited after the runner finished second
The result did not stay on paper. OutKick reported that at an Oct. 13 Camas High School meet against Battle Ground, roughly a dozen girls took the starting line and walked off in protest. Kevin Burns told The Ingraham Angle that several girls, including team captains, had quit before that walkout2. Girls should not have to surrender a competition to preserve the fairness of a category built for them. When the rule leaves them a choice between racing against that result and forfeiting, the rule has failed them.
State rules assign teams by gender identity
The Camas School District explained the mechanism to families. Officials told them that Washington law and high school athletic regulations require schools to let athletes compete in divisions matching their gender identity. Kevin Burns quoted the district’s letter as saying that, under Washington law, the school prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and expression2. That is the rule that produced the result. Gender identity, not sex, decides which division a girl races in, and girls’ sports must protect sex-based distinctions.
A right to protest does not settle fairness
Reykdal dismissed the policy fight on Initiative 638 as well. “Well, my take on the initiative is it’s unnecessary,” he said. He also said his office had not received a formal complaint about the Camas case, and he defended the walkout as a protected act: “And they’ve walked off the field, and they’re willing to take that risk, which is their First Amendment right.”1 A complaint that never reached his office does not undo the forfeits.
Washington must protect girls’ sports by sex
Sarah Burns, whose daughter ran in the meet, put the stakes in one line: “I want to stand up for girls that need someone to stand up for them.” Kevin Burns said the issue has support across the aisle: “This is a big issue that most Americans on both sides of the political aisle agree with.”2 A girls’ division exists so that girls have a fair place to compete. When state rules do not protect that category, girls are left to absorb the cost, and a walkout is a protest, not a safeguard. Parents should press their school boards and state leaders to answer that demand plainly.
Sources
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