A biological male athlete who identifies as a transgender woman is reportedly competing and winning against females after “struggling” in competition against male athletes.
The student-athlete, who is a sophomore at Seattle Academy, finished in 72nd place as a freshman in a boys cross country race last year, according to Fox News. But this year, the male-bodied student has not placed lower than 22nd place in competitions against biological women:
On Nov. 5, she ran in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 1A State Finals in Washington, finishing her race in 18th place with a time of 20:31.3. Had the sophomore competed in the boys division, her time would have given her a 145th-place finish.
In last year's Emerald South Conference Championships, the student, then a male, finished in 72nd place in the boys division with a 20:40.6 time. This year, now competing as a girl, she finished in first place with a time of 19:14.5, a school record.
Last year, the runner finished in 134th place at the 14th annual Twilight XC Invitational at 19:46.50. This year, she came in 12th place, finishing just 2.6 seconds faster.
Libs of TikTok, who broke the story, spoke to high school coaches and several parents of the girls who’ve competed against the transgender athlete.
“[The transgender student] ] is larger than any of the girls, and shamelessly takes 1st place on the podium. Now my daughter is competing against a male for scholarships. And we can’t even say anything. You can’t even approach it in a nice way without being labeled a hateful bigot. You will get threats against you,” one father told Libs of TikTok.
Libs of TikTok pointed out that many parents are “terrified” to raise concerns about the situation.
“Our daughters are also going through puberty and developing breasts and hips and having a period every month,” one parent said, noting that the biological male athlete does not have that and has greater lung capacity, muscle mass and bone density. The parent added that girls will lose opportunities for scholarships over this.
Seattle Academy competes in the Emerald Sound Conference, which consists of 14 schools. One of the coaches within the conference spoke to Libs of TikTok and said that the transgender athlete is taking opportunities away from women.
"Allowing [the student] to compete against biological girls deprives other girls' teams of the chance to compete at state [which is a big deal]," a coach in the student's conference told Libs of TikTok. "If [the student] competed in the boys division, [the student] would place 56th on the boys team."
In June, Independent Women’s Forum held a rally in Washington, D.C. commemorating the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Now, Democrats want to revise the civil rights legislation to allow “sex” to include “gender identity,” which would wreck the future of women’s sports. This came shortly after the controversy surrounding Will “Lia” Thomas, who competed, and won an NCAA title, against female swimmers last season after competing on the men’s swim team at University of Pennsylvania for three seasons.
At the rally, I spoke to many female athletes who’ve competed against male-bodied transgender athletes. Some of the women I spoke with had been sidelined altogether or not considered for scholarships or other opportunities because of a biological male transgender athlete.
"I have firsthand knowledge of what it feels like to line up next to a male-bodied athlete," world champion track athlete Cynthia Monteleone told Townhall. "I'm also a coach to young athletes and Olympians. And for my young athletes, it's really important that when I teach them lessons like 'hard work pays off' that that rings true...that lesson falls apart when they have to line up next to someone who, quite literally, can be a mediocre athlete and still win."