By LYNNE TERRY/Oregon Capital Chronicle
All 12 women Republican lawmakers in the Oregon Legislature are calling on the head of the Oregon School Activities Association to change its policy allowing transgender girls to compete as females in school sports.
The 2016 policy, which allows students to compete in the category of their “consistently asserted gender identity,” aims to be inclusive, according to the association’s handbook.
“Rules such as this one (promote) harmony and fair competition among member schools by maintaining equality of eligibility and (increasing) the number of students who will have an opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities,” the handbook says. It added that the policy promotes “harmony and fair competition among member schools by maintaining equality of eligibility and (increases) the number of students who will have an opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities.”
But the Republican lawmakers disagreed, and wrote to OSAA executive director Peter Weber saying that any records or wins by transgender girl athletes were not wins at all.
The letter was signed by Sens. Kim Thatcher of Keizer and Suzanne Weber of Tillamook and Reps. Christine Goodwin of Canyonville, Anna Scharf of Amity, Bobby Levy of Echo, Emily McIntire of Eagle Point, Kim Wallan of Medford, Lucetta Elmer of McMinnville, Jami Cate of Lebanon, Shelly Boshard David of Albany, Tracy Cramer of Gervais and Vikki Breese-Iverson of Prineville.
Their letter was prompted by a high school competition on Saturday. Aayden Gallagher, a transgender 10th-grade student at Portland’s McDaniel High School, competed in the girls varsity division at the Need for Speed Classic in Sherwood. According to the sports website Athletic.net, she placed second in the women’s 200-meter dash – and currently is in fifth place overall – and second in the women’s 400 meter dash, a race where she’s currently ranked fourth. Gallagher also placed seventh with her team in the 4×100 replay and eighth in the 4×400 relay.
Gallagher’s results were picked up by the conservative influencers on X, including “Libs of TikToc,” who posted a video of the 200-meter dash showing Gallagher charging past competitors, called the athlete a “cheater” and said her competitors had their “dream stolen from them.”
The New York Post and Fox News reported on it, and other Republicans weighed in, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas who called Gallagher’s second place finish “disgraceful,” and Utah Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman who said it was “BS” on X.
In Oregon, the 12 lawmakers asked Weber to “provide a solution to the families seeking answers about why the OSAA doesn’t feel girls’ sports should be a safe space for biological females to compete and succeed.”
Weber told the Capital Chronicle in an email that association officials are consulting with the executive board before responding to the letter. Weber declined to answer other questions about the number of transgender female athletes in high school sports and their results. The association’s handbook says the policy was developed with the Oregon Department of Education.
“The OSAA recognizes that this policy will need to be reviewed on a regular basis based on improved understanding of gender identity and expression, evolving law, and societal norms,” the handbook says.
The issue has come up before. For example, in January, a tennis coach at Canby High School resigned over transgender student athletes competing in girls sports.
The lawmakers encouraged parents and students to boycott any competitions that include transgender girls, and they said they plan to propose legislation next session to strip any transgender girls of their sports awards and records and give those to the female athletes who came next.
That legislation is not likely to go anywhere, however: The Legislature is controlled by Democrats and they widely support LGBTQ+ rights. Nevertheless, this past session, Goodwin of Canyonville introduced a bill with Republican Sen. David Brook-Smith of Port Orford to ban transgender girls from competing in female sports. The proposal, House Bill 4054, was sent to the House health care committee where it died without a hearing.
Democratic leaders in the Legislature told the Capital Chronicle in an email that the latest reaction to transgender athletes is “predictable, offensive and dangerous.”
“Oregon student athletes should not be worried about politicians using their names in any effort to politicize or police gender,” said Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber of Beaverton and House Majority Leader Ben Bowman of Tigard. “Sending a letter to a state agency is one thing but singling out an Oregon child to score political points crosses a line and risks harm to that student and their family.”
They added: “Legislative Democrats won’t play politics at the expense of the privacy, health and safety of our kids. We’re going to protect our kids by focusing on the issues that actually have an impact on their wellbeing – like housing affordability, homelessness, and the drug crisis.”
How can anyone in their right mind think this sort of thing shouold be allowed. This should not even be an issue that our political officials should have andy interest in. How about inflation, cost to survive, health of our state amd on and on. These are what the elected people should be conserned with. Having men playing in womens sports is wrong and anyone who thinks otherwise should run for office.
I agree with you, Steve.
This is a malicious propaganda campaign that totally distorts the issue.
The occasional trans woman athlete who outperforms other women is what the GOP loves to focus on. But the real issue is involvement in everyday PE activities in school by trans children who are not recognized as such. Case in point. Before I moved home to Oregon after retiring several years ago, I had neighbors with a young child who is born as a boy but from an extremely young age, and I’m talking three or four, identified as a girl and insisted on wearing girl’s clothes and having long hair. You would never know that she was born a boy if you saw her, and she clearly saw herself as a female from an age way too young for it to be some sort of conscious or trendy decision.
After she grew older and entered school as a girl, she naturally participated in recess and physical education activities with girls. Nobody knew otherwise. If she had been forced to compete with boys, her status as a trans child would have been exposed to everyone and she would have been bullied and subject to other discrimination. Kids like this are the issue. Is every trans child supposed to stay out of PE just because some people have a problem with them?