A video of a transgender high school athlete outrunning and dropping her competitors during a track meet has sparked outrage online.
The video, originally shared online by feminist magazine Reduxxshows McDaniel High School sophomore Aayden Gallagher speeding past a group of biological female athletes and keeping a large distance between them before finally crossing the finish line at 25.49 minutes.
The other athletes only cross the finish line around the 31st minute.
Gallagher ultimately finished second in the women’s college 200 meters at the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic in Oregon on Saturday, with Aster Jones narrowly edging her out of first place, according to race results.
Under current policy, the Oregon School Activities Association “strives to enable students to participate in athletic or activity programs consistent with their consistently affirmed gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students “.
It goes on to note that once a transgender student informs their school of their gender identity, “the student will be consistently treated as that gender for purposes of eligibility for sports and activities, provided that if they has tried or participated in an activity, the student cannot participate during that same season in a team of the other sex.
Gallagher also said she would undergo hormone replacement therapy, telling her high school newspaper last year that she thought it would make her “a lot more confident because right now I’m just going to continue to become more more masculine – more facial hair.” , stuff like that.
“And I don’t want that.”
But as video of her Sherwood Need for Speed victory spread throughout the weekend, many netizens said she had an unfair advantage over biological female athletes.
“These high school girls had their dreams stolen because the school caters to the illusions of a boy who pretends to be a girl”, popular X account »wrote the TikTok Libs.
“He’s a cheater.”
Canadian podcaster and author Meghan Murphy also called the video “sick and disgusting.”
“I want to know why his parents allow him to make fun of female athletes, why his coach allows him to cheat and why the coaches and parents of these girls are not speaking out,” she said. put online.
Carilyn Johnson, two-time Team USA track and field star further argued: “At some point we have to be ready to see it for what it is.
“Please stop pretending this is anything other than telling young female athletes they don’t matter.”
One parent, who said her daughter also took part in the 200-meter race, called the video “crazy.”
“How can anyone think this is right?” » she asked.
The mother wrote that athletes came from all over Oregon to compete in the event “and this is what they got: being beaten by a boy.”
She continued saying Saturday’s results would likely propel Gallagher to the state meet where she “will beat all the girls (except maybe one), break records and be called a hero — for being a man who races against the girls and wins.”
“We must demand a third category in high school competitions, or races must be run by biological sex,” continued the mother.
“Everything else amounts to making fun of women’s athletics.”
New York Post
