Washington parents find their courage as girls walk off cross country course in protest of trans runner
Washington parents find their courage as girls walk off cross country course in protest of trans runner
CAMAS, Wash. — The sign seemed innocuous enough. So did the man holding it. But a passing jogger apparently saw things differently.
Outside a in which a biological male was competing against girls, Steve Lynch held a sign that read: "Coached X-C & Track for 24 years. If you have questions about the differences between Girls & Boys...answers given here FREE of charge!"
But as Lynch began explaining those differences, the jogger shouted: "Jesus loves a firing squad! Go kill Muslims! Go kill trans people! That's your rhetoric, right? F--- you!"
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Lynch didn't even flinch. In fact, he smiled.
"Oftentimes I have to deal with that," he said.
Lynch represents courage on this issue, which is something many adults lack. Over the past few weeks, it's been mostly students, not grown-ups, who have competing against girls after starting the season on the boys team.
But a rally outside Wednesday's meet — where the boy finished second among a field of 25 to help lead Camas to the girls district championship — showed that the adults are catching up in the bravery department.
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There looked to be more than 100 grown-ups, maybe 200, in attendance — mostly dressed in garb advocating for the separation of males and females in sports. At the heart of the rally was Initiative 638 — a Nov. 3 ballot measure in Washington state that would enforce such separation in K-12 athletics.
People such as Sarah Burns, the mother of a Camas runner who walked off the start line in protest last week, never imagined herself playing the role of activist when the cross country season began. But now she finds herself at the center of one of the most contentious debates in Washington state.
"I was just a mom going to watch her daughter, and then we found out what was happening, and I couldn't not say something," said Burns, wearing an XX-XY Athletics shirt. "These are teenage girls that should be able to be teenage girls and run and compete in their sport and not have their achievements taken from them."
Burns was not the only Camas parent willing to speak out on Wednesday. Also in attendance was Sarah Babb, whose daughter Madeline walked off the start line last week as well. Like Burns' daughter, Holly, Madeline had no idea her actions would prompt such widespread media attention. But as reporters from across the nation showed up to cover Wednesday's rally and meet, Sarah was no longer feeling quite so isolated.
"As a mom who comes to these races all season long, it feels very alone as I stand there and go, 'This is awful,'" Babb said. "So it was great to see such support last week, and this is wild this week. It's hard to be the quiet majority, to feel like we're being bullied into silence. I think a lot of people feel that way. I know it's scary. It's scary."
It certainly can be. Over the past couple weeks that I've been covering this story, most parents have been reluctant to speak — even anonymously. Many have expressed fear of losing their jobs, and one even said, "I don't want my house burned down."
It's easy to catastrophize, especially when you see how vicious opponents of the Protect Women's Sports crowd can be. There was the aforementioned jogger. There was the
