Ursula: Allowing a trans student to race against girls in Camas only fuels hate toward the trans community
Oct 15, 2026, 2:00 PM
The legs of a runner wearing athletic clothing are seen in a grassy field. (Photo: drazenphoto via Envato)
(Photo: drazenphoto via Envato)
About a dozen girls on the Camas High School cross-country team refused to race this week because a transgender teammate was competing in the girls’ division.
The sophomore started the season racing with the boys, then switched to the girls’ team last month. Since then, this runner went from the back of the pack to runner-up in a dual meet and has become much more competitive.
Washington has allowed students to compete based on gender identity since 2008, so Camas did not break WIAA rules.
But I totally understand why these girls walked away. This was so unfair!
If you start the season competing with the boys, you should finish the season there.
And in the bigger picture, I do not think someone who was born male should be competing in girls’ sports.
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A fair playing field shouldn’t require every girl to prove her sex
I know that is difficult for some trans students to hear, and I do have sympathy for them. But girls’ sports exist to create fair competition for female athletes, and there’s plenty of evidence that shows biological sex matters in athletics.
That’s why I also understand the push behind Initiative 638, which is on the November ballot. It would bar students born male from competing in girls’ sports. But it would also require every girl who wants to compete to have a health-care provider verify her biological sex.
That’s where I think it goes too far.
We’re talking about a very small number of transgender athletes statewide, and I do not think every girl who wants to run cross-country, play soccer, or join a basketball team should have to prove she is biologically female.
We can protect girls’ sports without making every girl prove she belongs there.
And just as importantly, we should be able to have this debate without turning trans kids into targets. They get enough hate as it is.
Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.
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