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Editorial: OSAA Policy On Trans Athlete Participation Falls Short On 'Safe' And 'Fair'

Published by
DyeStat.com   May 19th 2024, 8:00am
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Visceral Reactions To Transgender Athlete Winning Girls 200 Meters Title At Oregon State Meet Should Force OSAA To Revisit Policy

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Becky Holbrook

EUGENE -- It had to play out, just as it has already, or will, in many other parts of this country and many more.

Sophomore Aayden Gallagher from McDaniel High in Portland, a female-identifying transgender athlete, participated twice on the biggest stage in Oregon high school track and field Saturday at the state championships.

State finals in the girls 400 meters and 200 meters drew the attention of every eyeball at Hayward Field.

These moments were inflection points.

In the 400 meters, two-time defending champion Josie Donelson of Lake Oswego, the state record holder and a Division 1 recruit headed to Vanderbilt next fall, managed to hold off Gallagher in a tense race that produced the first sub-53 second performances in Oregon history.

It was Donelson first in US#6 52.83 seconds, Gallagher second in 52.98.

To many in the crowd, it was something more: The talented girl refusing to yield to the "boy."

The roar and standing ovation for Donelson may surpass anything that comes next week at the Prefontaine Classic. Or, yes, the Olympic Trials. 

A little over an hour later, Gallagher won the Class 6A girls 200 meters in 23.82 seconds, one of the fastest times in state history. Second was Roosevelt sophomore Aster Jones, the younger sister of University of Oregon track standout Lily Jones and a rising talent. (Jones won the 100 meters and was leading the 200 until about the last 30 meters). 

And the crowd booed, loudly, which is something I can't recall happening at Hayward Field, ever, directed at an athlete. There were more boos when Gallagher accepted her medal on the award stand.

And yet, Gallagher deserves some credit as a trail-blazing trans athlete. I have no issue with respecting her identity or preferred pronouns. I suspect that she is female in many aspects of life. It took courage and determination to get through the past two days, let alone the past five weeks. She has revealed some admirable qualities.

But here's the stark reality: When Gallagher steps onto the track she does not share the same sex characteristics as her competitors. And that's a problem.

Gallagher is a gifted athlete with a background in weight training.

When she competed in track and field for the first time, in late March, she opened with a 57-second 400 in a dual meet. Few noticed.

In Gallagher's fourth competition, at the Sherwood Need For Speed Invitational, she ran 55.61 for second place in the 400 and 25.49 for second in the 200. That's the day conservative media outlets began screaming on social media about Gallagher and a flurry of headlines popped up online with the phrase "sparks outrage."

Two days later, McDaniel High required security at track practice.

The state meet, even then, loomed.

Leave the politics aside for a moment.

Track and field can be a very fussy sport. At state championship meets, officials nit-pick everything to ensure rules are followed and no advantages are gained. Statisticians guard the history of the sport and deny records on the basis of wind readings.

The guardrails are meant to guarantee a level playing field.

Trans athletes such as Gallagher lining up against cisgender girls is not level. The male sex hormone testosterone, which increases muscle mass and bone mass, is an undeniable advantage that post-pubescent teenage boys hold over most girls.

Are we supposed to believe that someone who started competing in track and field two months ago, who is male in every way besides identified gender, is the fastest girl to ever come out of Portland, Oregon?

Or is it more likely, in a track and field context, that Gallagher's ability level falls in line with other 10th grade boys and that she is someone on the cusp of making district finals and could have a bright future racing the appropriate competition?

I don't know if Gallagher has begun any gender-affirming hormone therapy, but the Oregon Schools Activities Association policy does not require it, or gender-affirming surgery.

As a result, the newcomer from McDaniel High jumped the line and went straight to the top of the girls rankings in the state.

Gallagher is not the first, of course.

Five years ago in Connecticut, Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood caused similar controversy in girls sprinting in New England. The lawsuit that ensued, Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools, remains unresolved.

A lawsuit with similar arguments against the OSAA is likely to come soon.

Trans rights versus Save Girls Sports is not an easy choice for those who have empathy for both.

Transgender teens suffer from anxiety and depression, and attempt suicide, at significantly higher rates than the rest of the population. It's important to acknowledge that. 

Females in sports have changed the culture in recent decades, for the better. Why would anybody, transgender people included, want that trend to stop?

Some states jumped on the issue quickly at the legislative level, with hand-wringing over Miller and Yearwood, and banned trans athletes from competing in girls competitions. At least 23 states have imposed such bans or restrictions.

At the federal level the courts, unfortunately, have not been able to resolve the issue.

And the OSAA, in aligning its policy with state law forbidding discrimination, held firm to the ideals of inclusion and acceptance. High school sports, after all, are about much more than winning and losing for the vast majority of students.

But in instances like this, it is about winning and losing.  

The policy says:

The OSAA endeavors to allow students to participate for the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students.

Fair and safe environment.

Has anything felt safe for Gallagher since Sherwood? This is a student who required security at her hotel and at Hayward Field the past couple of days. There was a Sheriff standing on the track when Gallagher passed by to attend two podium ceremonies.

That doesn't sound like a safe environment. Gallagher was ostracized at a time when every other champion was celebrated.

How has she processed that? She declined to speak to the media. 

Fair?

I spoke to several of the state's most successful and respected coaches this weekend to seek their input.

"This is destructive to girls sports," one of them told me.

I believe that coaches will push for change after this weekend, although there is a spectrum of thought on what to do.

Saturday's precedent is unsettling and it threatens the integrity of the state meet. 

Does one lane in the finals for a trans athlete in 2024 become three lanes some time in the future? Will natal girls continue to lose the ground that their mothers, aunts and older sisters won?

Fifty years of state meets provide all the data necessary to show the necessity for keeping state-level boys and girls competitions separate. The opportunities to compete are every bit as valuable and meaningful to both sides.

No one should get a free pass to the front of the line based purely on gender identity.

World Athletics, of course, has banned trans athletes from competing against women. That organization won't allow women such as Caster Semenya, with high testosterone counts, to compete against other women. That's the standard for professional track and field, where the stakes are lucrative.

That's not necessarily the standard high school sports should strive for.

The NCAA is considering whether to ban trans athletes in track and field beginning with the 2024-25 school year. A decision is pending.

The current rule in the NCAA, as well as the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation, which operates Nike Outdoor Nationals, is that a trans athlete must have undergone gender-affirming therapy for a full year in order to compete.

That's one option. A third category, an "open" division, may be another.

Track and field, and high school sports and activities, should do all it can to remain accessible to everyone who plays by the rules.

There is a place in this sport for Gallagher, too. A safe place. A fair place.

It isn't in the girls state finals.

OSAA, it's time to update your policy. Saturday's scenes at Hayward Field demand a better solution. 



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