Camas High freshman Logan Mihailoff – X Screenshot
About half the girls on a high school cross-country team in Southwest Washington refused to race in protest of a transgender teammate. The October 13 walk-off at Camas High School went viral as state voters consider banning trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. The transgender runner had competed on the boys’ team earlier in the season.
Video of the walk-off, posted online by a local anti-trans activist, spread widely through right-wing outlets and figures including former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines and influencer Brandi Kruse.
The trans runner, a junior, placed 76th in a boys’ junior varsity 5,000-meter race on September 5. After joining the girls’ team, she finished second in a junior varsity race on September 26 and first in a varsity race on September 29, both at the same distance. She has since competed in three additional meets, according to Seattle NPR affiliate KUOW.
The blog “He Cheated” published the trans student’s name and documented her race results since she switched teams. The site claims transgender athletes take awards and opportunities from female athletes and advocates banning trans girls and women from female-designated sports.
Kruse also highlighted the runner’s race results and interviewed two girls from a rival high school’s team and one of their fathers, all of whom opposed the trans athlete’s participation on the girls’ team.
On October 8, the Camas School District addressed the controversy in a statement.
“We understand this topic brings a range of perspectives and emotions, and we want to clarify the District’s role and responsibilities,” district communications director Doreen McKercher wrote, acknowledging that community members “may hold differing views” on trans athletes’ eligibility for girls’ teams.
“As a Washington public school district and member of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), Camas School District follows applicable state law and WIAA rules governing interscholastic athletics,” McKercher continued. “Under current WIAA rules, the Association’s eligibility requirements govern athletic participation. Washington law, including RCW 28A.642, prohibits discrimination in public schools based on gender identity and gender expression.”
The WIAA has allowed students to compete on teams aligned with their gender identity for nearly 20 years. Fewer than 10 trans athletes have participated during that time, the association told KUOW.
The controversy comes as Washington voters cast ballots on I-638, an initiative that would bar trans girls and women from female-designated sports by requiring athletes to prove they were assigned female at birth. Verification could involve genital exams, cheek swabs, or blood tests for XX chromosomes. If approved, the measure would impose one of the nation’s most stringent bans on trans athletes.
Polling from both supporters and opponents of I-638 suggests the measure is likely to pass. Supporters argue that separating teams by sex assigned at birth protects female athletes from losing awards, honors, or potential scholarships to trans competitors, whom they contend have physical advantages.
“The timing of this particular team protest seems really telling in relation to the election and Initiative 638,” John Gallagher, a former high school cross-country coach in Bellevue, told KUOW. Gallagher supports the “No Hate in Washington State Group,” which opposes the initiative.
Gallagher said he has coached trans athletes but had never encountered walk-offs or backlash over their participation.
“To me, this is a matter of some of the adults in the situation stepping in, overstepping, and telling these student athletes what they need to do in order to make a statement,” he said.
Josh Turek, Iowa's Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has drawn criticism for an ad opposing transgender women competing in women's sports and Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery.
Turek, a wheelchair basketball Paralympian and state representative from Council Bluffs, released the ad, titled "Stop the Nonsense," addressing his positions on transgender issues -- a subject his opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, has repeatedly attacked him over.
Yet the criticism and outrage directed at Turek for the transgender issues ad -- from across the ideological spectrum -- have muddled his "closing message" and overshadowed a much more powerful ad featuring his sister, Ulette, who is fighting cancer and whose insurer denied coverage for a scan to determine whether her cancer had spread through the bloodstream.
The BBC has apologized and agreed to pay compensation to the couple behind PinkNews, an LGBTQ news website, after conceding that stories accusing them of sexual misconduct were false and defamatory.
In a statement in open court at London's High Court on October 8, the BBC accepted that its December 2024 iPlayer documentary, PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors, and associated BBC News coverage made "a series of very serious, false, and defamatory allegations" against founder and CEO Benjamin Cohen and his husband, chief operating officer Anthony James.
Lucian Piane, a composer, music producer, and recurring judge on the early seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, has died after being hit by a car in Glendale, California.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ that Piane, 46, was hit by the car on the morning of October 12. The Glendale Fire Department told the news outlet that first responders attempted to resuscitate him, but he died at the scene.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined that Piane died from blunt trauma after being hit by a car. The investigation into his death remains ongoing.
Piane had two run-ins with Glendale police in the days before his death. On October 10, he was taken into custody for allegedly being under the influence of a controlled substance and received a citation. He was briefly taken back into custody on October 11 for allegedly assaulting a police officer or emergency worker. He received a second citation and was scheduled to appear in court on October 12.
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