Students Revolt Against School’s Trans Athlete Policy, Refuse to Race against Student Who Was on the Men’s Team Just a Month Ago

Nearly half of a Washington high school girls’ cross-country team walked away from the starting line rather than compete alongside a transgender athlete who had raced on the boys’ team weeks earlier. About a dozen Camas High School runners sacrificed their race Tuesday as the rest of the field began running. Video showed the protesting students calmly walking past the line and leaving the course together.

The October 13th meet pitted Camas against Battle Ground at the Underwriters Laboratories campus in Washington. The Camas runner began the season in the boys’ division before moving to the girls’ team in September. Several girls had discussed the situation before the meet and decided they would act as a group. Holly Burns was among the students who joined the walk-off.

When the starting signal sounded, roughly half of the girls and the transgender athlete began running the course. Burns and the other protesters instead walked forward together, crossed the starting line and headed toward a nearby tree line. The coordinated refusal meant the girls forfeited one of their high school competitions. Footage of the protest quickly spread across social media.

Jennifer Sey, the founder of XX-XY Athletics, shared the footage on X and said “nearly half the Camas High School girls cross country team refused to compete.” Sey noted that the student had moved from the boys’ team approximately one month earlier and had begun placing in girls’ meets. “Courage always wins,” she added. The footage was credited to women’s sports advocate Amy Sousa.

The athlete’s midseason move had already drawn attention before Tuesday’s protest. As OutKick reported, the runner finished 76th in a boys’ junior-varsity race in Oregon on September 5th. By September 15th, the student was competing in a girls’ race against Skyview High School. The runner later won a varsity girls’ meet and placed second at another invitational.

Burns’ parents, Kevin and Sarah Burns, said their daughter initially didn’t want to create controversy and that they left the decision to her. Her position changed as more teammates began discussing a joint protest. “You hear about it, but you just never think it’s going to be on your kid’s small cross-country team,” Sarah said. The parents arrived at Tuesday’s meet with signs supporting separate athletic categories for girls.

Watch the students walk away from the race here:

Camas School District said it follows Washington law and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association eligibility rules. The district explained that state law prohibits discrimination in public schools based on gender identity or expression, while current WIAA rules allow students to compete according to their gender identity. School officials said the district doesn’t establish those eligibility standards independently. The district also said students and community members may peacefully express differing positions on the policy.

The controversy comes weeks before Washington voters consider Initiative 638 on November 3rd. The measure would prohibit students defined as biologically male from entering designated female-only interschool athletic competitions and require biological-sex verification from a health care provider. If approved, the initiative would take effect 30 days after the election. Washington’s state cross-country championships are scheduled for November 7th, before the proposed restrictions could take effect.

Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.