About a dozen girls on the Camas High School cross-country team walked off the course rather than compete in an Oct. 13 dual meet against Battle Ground, protesting a midseason roster change that moved a male athlete onto the girls’ varsity team.
According to reporting by Fox News Digital’s Jackson Thompson and OutKick’s Matt Calkins, the athlete had finished 76th in an Oregon boys’ junior varsity race on Sept. 5. Ten days later, the same runner was competing in the girls’ division.
Parents Kevin and Sarah Burns, whose daughter Holly runs for Camas, discussed the walkout on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.” Kevin Burns said the decision to leave the course came from the girls themselves, with backing from teammates.
“Well, we told her that they should do what they feel is best and that they feel is right. And they got the support from their teammates, and they decided to make a difference,” Kevin Burns said.
He said the size of the group mattered. “I think if only a couple of girls had walked off it, they would have lost some opportunities. And I don’t think it would have mattered so much. But so many of them,” he said, adding that several girls, including team captains, had already quit the team before the protest.
District Points to State Law
When families raised questions about the runner’s eligibility, the Camas School District told them Washington law and state high school athletic rules require schools to let athletes compete in the division matching their gender identity.
“The school sent us out a letter stating that, based on Washington law, it prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and expression,” Kevin Burns said. When host Laura Ingraham summarized the letter as telling families they were out of luck, he agreed: “I guess it’s okay to discriminate against actual gender.”
Sarah Burns said the controversy has placed an unfair burden on teenage athletes.
“They’re children, they’re, you know, they’re 16 to 17-year-old girls that shouldn’t have to deal with this at all, shouldn’t even be on their radar,” she said. “You know, they should just be able to go out there and race and have fun and not deal with this adult issue.”
Confrontation on the Sidelines
Tension extended beyond the course itself. The Burnses said that when they showed up to the meet carrying signs in support of the girls, security tried to remove them.
“We got a lot of pushback showing up there. They said the signs weren’t allowed. We had to leave. My wife Sarah was being very brave and did not care. And I don’t think they had a legal reason to actually push us out,” Kevin Burns said.
The couple stayed anyway. “So we ended up actually staying there and holding our signs, and it gave the girls a boost of self-esteem. And we had a lot of parents coming up and saying, thank you for doing this. I was, I wanted to do this also. So this is kind of the start, I think,” Kevin Burns said.
Sarah Burns said she felt compelled to act on behalf of the team. “I want to stand up for girls that need someone to stand up for them,” she said.
Kevin Burns also said he believes the issue draws support across party lines and questioned why more elected officials haven’t pushed harder on it. “This is a big issue that most Americans on both sides of the political aisle agree with … We have friends on both sides of the aisle that agree with the girls’ rights to not have to compete against boys,” he said.
