High School Girls Walk Off Cross Country Race in Protest of Transgender Runner

A dozen high school cross country runners from Camas High School in Washington staged a protest on October 13 by refusing to compete against a biological male athlete who had recently switched from the boys' competition to the girls' team.

Logan Mihailoff, a junior at Camas High, competed in boys' races as recently as September 5. By mid-season, Mihailoff had switched to the girls' competition. This change sparked outrage among some parents and students, leading a significant portion of the Camas High girls' team to withdraw from the race.

When the race began, Mihailoff and the remaining female runners started, but approximately 11 girls walked off the course with their arms linked, moving into the nearby trees to exit the competition. This action meant forfeiting one of their scheduled races.

The parents of the protesting girls expressed support for their daughters' decision. Kevin Burns, father of one of the runners, stated that parents were informed about the girls' desire to take a stand and were supportive. His wife, Sarah, added that the situation felt personal, as they never expected it to affect their child's small cross-country team.

Burns also recounted challenges faced by himself and his wife when they attempted to display signs protesting transgender athletes' participation in women's sports. They reported being confronted by security and a woman who identified herself as a psychiatric nurse and criticized their actions.

Mihailoff's recent competition history includes a 76th-place finish out of 301 runners in a junior varsity boys' race at the Ultimook Race in Oregon on September 5. Just over a month later, on October 10, Mihailoff finished as the second-fastest member of the Camas High girls' team in the elite women's race at the Nike Hole In The Wall XC Invitational in Arlington, Washington, with a personal best time of 18 minutes, 36.8 seconds, placing 39th overall.

The protest occurs less than a month before Washington voters are scheduled to vote on Initiative 638 on November 3. If passed, this initiative would prohibit biological males from competing in girls' K-12 sports. The measure qualified for the ballot after gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures. While Washington is considered a liberal state, activists supporting the initiative are optimistic about its chances, citing tentative local polling data from the conservative-backed political action committee Let's Go Washington, which suggests 56 percent of voters may favor the ban. Polling conducted by the Pew Research Center last year indicated that 66 percent of Americans nationwide support policies requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams aligning with their sex at birth.

According to Andrew Villeneuve, founder of the Northwest Progressive Institute, voters tend to support banning transgender athletes from competing with cisgender girls after reviewing the ballot language. However, Democratic Party spokesperson Stephen Reed noted that polling within the party suggests the initiative may not be a guaranteed victory. Currently, 27 states have enacted policies separating biological males from women's sports in K-12 athletics, though these were passed by state legislatures, not by popular vote. If Washington passes Initiative 638, it would be the first state to enact such a policy through voter approval.

In February 2025, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at restricting transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports. Washington's Superintendent, Chris Reykdal, publicly opposed the order, stating it compelled schools to discriminate against transgender female athletes and violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination and state school rules. Reykdal asserted that state law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and that the state would uphold this.