Holly Burns and about a dozen other girls walked away from a cross-country race on Tuesday.
They refused to compete against a male athlete who had started the season racing on the boys team.
When the race began, half of the girls competing, and the male athlete, took off running.
Burns and the other half of the girls slowly walked forward past the starting line, and then into the nearby tree line, sacrificing one of their high school competitions.
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Footage of the protest has since gone viral across social media, igniting widespread awareness for one of the trans athlete incidents currently plaguing Washington state.
For Burns, a Camas High School runner, the decision to protest was reinforced by strength in numbers. Her parents, Kevin and Sarah Burns, told OutKick their daughter initially wanted to avoid “making waves.”
“She wanted to kind of play it safe, so we, 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,” Kevins said.
DAD BANNED FROM SCHOOL GROUNDS AFTER PROTESTING TRANS RUNNER COMPETING AGAINST HIS DAUGHTER
But then her teammates began talking.
The girls shared their concerns. They decided to act together. And her parents backed her.
“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,” Kevin said.
“We told her, do what you think is best.”
The Oct. 13 meet pitted Camas against Battle Ground. Camas hosted the event at the Underwriters Lab campus, where the girls race was scheduled for 4 p.m.
The Burnses said they learned about the athletes move to girls competition recently. They worried about what it would mean for their daughter and her teammates.
“You hear about it, but you just never think its going to be on your kids small cross-country team,” Sarah said.
Camas School District has said it follows Washington law and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association eligibility rules.
For the Burnses, that policy leaves their daughters concerns unresolved.
“I dont see how its OK to discriminate against my daughter and the daughters of everyone else that is trying to fairly compete,” Kevin said.
Their own protest began before the girls walked off.
They arrived with signs, and security challenged them, the parents said.
“They said that were not allowed to hold up signs at this event today,” Kevin 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 didnt seem like they really had a grasp
