On Tuesday, a group of girls on the Camas High School girls’ cross country team in Washington state walked off the course during a meet on Tuesday in protest of a biological male competing in the girls’ division.

In September, the male athlete finished 76th in a boys’ junior varsity race. Less than two weeks later, he started competing in the female division. But John Anzalone, the superintendent for Camas Schools says there will be no consequences for the young man, according to Washington Interscholastic Activities Association policy, which permits him to compete on the girls’ team if he prefers. 

Anzalone told OutKick, “As long as WIAA policy allows (the biological male) to run, and she’s eligible to run, she’ll continue running. Nothing’s changed. We don’t make political stances as a school district. We just won’t, and we can’t. And so, as long as the policy stands, we’re going to follow the policy.”

Walt Heyer, senior fellow at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand that he’s proud of the girls who walked off the course for taking a stand. “The girls at Camas High School have made it clear what every female high school sports team should do when unfairness like this occurs. ‘Walk off’ should be the established chant in these types of situations; do not join in devaluing girls’ sports. Bravo to these brave girls.”

Anzalone continued, “The girls are entitled to handle this however is best for them, and I was at the meet and it was peacefully done. And of course, we’ll support whatever they want to do. I felt that this wasn’t just about supporting and protecting (the male runner). This was really about supporting and providing that space for the girls who did walk off to do so and not feel any repercussions. And of course, some of them looked very sad. I think some of them were very conflicted. But they’re also teenagers. They’re still children.”

But Washington isn’t the only state enabling the erasure of women from women’s athletics. Earlier this week, a group of parents in Colorado spoke out after their daughters were denied spots on a high school girls’ volleyball team — while coaches allowed a biological male masquerading as a female to join. 

“My daughter played volleyball at Dakota Ridge High School in Colorado’s Jeffco Public Schools during her freshman and sophomore years,” the mother of one of the girls told Fox News. “Being part of that team meant everything to her. This year, about 35 plus girls, including my daughter, didn’t make the team, while a transgender player did. She was crushed, and as her mother, I feel her opportunity was taken from her. This is why Title IX protections in sports are so important for our girls.”

Another mother shared about her daughter, “For her, this meant losing a season of development, time with her teammates, and something she had built much of her high-school experience around. I cannot establish from the information available to me that my daughter would otherwise have made the team, or that her position change was connected to the other athlete’s placement.”

Both historically blue states have initiatives on the ballot this fall to better protect girls’ sports. 

In Washington, Initiative 638, the “Sex Verification Requirements for Female School Sports” would require schools to “‘prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students’ in sports with separate team or individual competitions for male and female students,” as well as “require students seeking to participate in athletic activities designated for female students to submit documentation from their healthcare provider verifying the student’s biological sex [based on]... reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”

In Colorado, the HB26-1083 “Protect Female Sports Act” would require “each interscholastic or intramural athletic team or sport that is sponsored by a school or athletic association (team or sport) to expressly designate the team’s or sport’s participants as either biological male, men, or boys; biological female, women, or girls; or coeducational or mixed.”

“Policies that threaten safety, privacy, and parental rights while promoting transgender ideology do not represent what most families believe or want for their children,” Alleigh Marré, executive director of the American Parents Coalition, previously told The Washington Stand. “The majority of Americans believe sports and private spaces should be defined by biological sex, not radical ideology. From the classroom to the sports fields, political activism has no place in our children’s lives.”