A Valley Viewpoint Narrative
Thirteen girls from Camas High School’s cross-country team reached the starting line and made a choice: they would not pretend the race was fair.
When the gun sounded, they walked away.
The girls were protesting the participation of a Camas athlete who had competed in the boys’ division earlier in the season, then switched to the girls’ division under Washington’s eligibility rules. At the October 13 meet against Battle Ground, roughly half the Camas girls chose not to run. They made their point peacefully, visibly and at real cost to themselves.
That is not a stunt. It is not hatred. It is a refusal to accept a rule that, in their view, makes a mockery of girls’ competition.
Girls’ sports exist because female athletes deserve a fair field of their own. They deserve the chance to compete for places, recognition and records against other girls. When an athlete who began the season racing in the boys’ division moves into girls’ competition, the girls affected by that decision have every right to ask whether the rules still protect their opportunity.
Instead of answering that question, too many adults reach for labels. They call the girls cruel, intolerant or bigoted. That is an easy way to avoid confronting what the athletes are actually saying: We don’t believe this is fair, and we won’t pretend that it is.
The Camas School District says it must follow state law and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules. That explains the policy the school is applying. It does not prove the policy is fair. Rules are written by people, and people can write rules that need to change.
The girls did not need adults to speak for them. They spoke for themselves. They walked off the course, and the argument followed them into the open.
Now the adults who make the rules—and the voters who will decide Washington’s Initiative 638 on November 3—must answer a basic question: will girls’ sports be organized around protecting female athletes’ fair opportunity, or will girls be expected to accept whatever eligibility policy officials impose and call that fairness?
Those Camas runners should be heard, not shamed. They stood up for the purpose of girls’ sports, and they did it without violence or intimidation. The adults in charge can disagree with them. But they cannot honestly say the issue has gone away.
The girls walked away from one race. The bigger question is whether the people running the system are willing to face what they were protesting.
