About a dozen high school girls staged a dramatic walkout from a cross-country race in Washington State rather than compete against a male athlete competing on the girls’ team.
The protest happened Tuesday when Camas High School girls lined up at the starting line. As the whistle blew, the entire group calmly walked off the course in unison.
The male runner had switched from the boys’ team to the girls’ team mid-season.
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“I don’t see how it’s OK to discriminate against my daughter and the daughters of everyone else that is trying to fairly compete.”
According to Fox News, the male athlete ranked 76th in the boys’ JV race — but won first place in his first girls’ race.
That disparity fueled the protest organized by student Holly Burns and her teammates. Her parents backed the decision.
“She wanted to kind of play it safe, so we weren’t going to push it. We just kind of let her kind of feel it out. We told her that we supported her whichever decision she tries to make,” father Kevin Burns told Fox News.
“The more I heard about her friends wanting to do something, the more I heard about her team wanting to do something; we definitely were in support of that,” he added. “We told her, do what you think is best.”
Holly’s mother, Sarah Burns, said she was blindsided when she learned a male runner was transferring to the girls’ team.
“You hear about it, but you just never think it’s going to be on your kid’s small cross-country team,” she said.
The family said school officials told them they couldn’t display protest signs during the race — then sent security to follow Kevin Burns when he held one up anyway.
“They said that we’re not allowed to hold up signs at this event today,” Mr. Burns said. “I questioned them if that was constitutionally legal, if we could express ourselves by just holding a sign. And we kind of went back and forth about public versus private property. And in the end, it didn’t seem like they really had a grasp on what they could tell us to do or not.”
“So I just went ahead and held up my sign, and they had several security guards following me and pestering me and telling me that I would have to leave. And I just said, no, I’m not going to leave,” he said.
Camas High School said it follows Washington State education rules for transgender athletes — rules that have been in place since 2007.
The girls and their parents vow to keep fighting.
Tonight in Washington state, nearly half the Camas High School girls cross country team refused to compete against a boy on their own team.
He switched from the boys' team just one month ago.
Now he's placing in every meet.
Courage always wins. @xx_xyathletics
Footage:… pic.twitter.com/qPDhnlkmCw
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) October 14, 2026
See if you can spot him pic.twitter.com/yjYYTqSePM
— jake (@mrfonch) October 14, 2026
