Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
A biological male in California has qualified to compete in the state championship for track & field.
Competing in the 1,600-meter race, Athena Ryan of Sonoma Academy won 2nd place, which eliminated Ellie Buckley of Campolindo High School from going to the championship.
One of the parents of the runners who lost to Ryan is speaking out.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what happens to these kids and how scared they are to even show the slightest bit of body language that might indicate that they aren’t happy with it,” the parent said. “They’re, like, forced to celebrate it.”
“You’re cheating,” the parent said about biological males competing against high school girls.
“Like the narcissism of this whole thing,” the parent said about California’s policy. “I’m absolutely opposed to it.”
“There’s no way this should be allowed,” the parent aded. “Ryan was in like fifth place with 100 to go, and all of a sudden he blew past the girls.”
“How do you not understand that that’s unfair?” the parent asked.
“I 100% percent empathize with the need to belong and the desire to compete,” the parent said. “[However,] you have to understand how hard these girls work to do this.”
Ryan is currently a junior. After the victory, Ryan said, “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“I dropped like 17 seconds on my season’s best in the past two weeks,” Ryan said after the win. “After last weekend, I didn’t think I could run low 5’s again. I was just coming here trying to break 5 – just glad I finished it out.”
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The parent also said that the girls will not speak out about their disappointment of Ryan’s inclusion in their sport because it could be considered “bullying” and affect their ability to compete at all.
“The student athletes’ reactions are very tempered and controlled as much as they can because they’re not allowed to show any reaction whatsoever to potentially not affirm what is happening,” the parent said. “We’ve been advised that anything that potentially can come off as bullying is a code of conduct violation. And so by CIF rules [the girls are] unable to speak out about this.”
The parent added that the bullying policy is extended to families, so if a parent speaks out, it could be considered bullying.
