Washington’s Seattle Academy High School girls’ cross-country team qualified for the state championship thanks to trans student, Aspen Hoffman. 

Last year, Hoffman was a mediocre cross-country runner on Seattle Academy’s boys’ team. During freshman year, Aspen Hoffman competed as a boy and finished 72nd in the League finals. Now, as a sophomore competing as a girl, Hoffman broke Seattle Academy’s school record in the girls’ 5000-meter category and ranks 1st in League. Hoffman’s time in the 5000-meter would rank him 48th if he had competed in the boys’ division.  Earlier this semester, Hoffman took 2nd at Districts, qualifying Seattle Academy for the State championship. 

Seattle Academy competes in the Emerald Sound Conference which is comprised of 14 schools. Libs of TikTok spoke with a coach in the conference who told us, “allowing [Hoffman] to compete against biological girls deprives other girls' teams of the chance to compete at State (which is a big deal).  If [Hoffman] competed in the boys’ division, [Hoffman] would place 56th on the boys’ team.”  

It’s not just the coach that was upset over Hoffman’s wins. Libs of TikTok spoke to several parents of young female athletes in the conference who are understandably upset. 

“[Hoffman] is larger than any of the girls, and shamelessly takes 1st place on the podium. Now my daughter is competing against a male for scholarships. And we can’t even say anything. You can’t even approach it in a nice way without being labeled a hateful bigot. You will get threats against you,” said one father.

Parents are terrified to even raise concerns about Hoffman’s presence on the girls’ team. Another parent noted, “parents are upset but they know it has to go to the state committee, which isn't politics, it's the state high school board, and unless there's any kind of pressure put on them to change the rule nothing's going to happen.” 

In 2007, the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) adopted the International Olympic Committee's position, which stated that trans individuals could participate in sports in their reassigned gender, provided they had undergone surgery and a minimum of two years of hormone treatments. Then in 2018, WIAA updated its policy lifting the surgical component, “an MTF [Male to Female] student must have one calendar year of medically documented testosterone suppression therapy to be eligible to participate on a female team, consistent with WIAA policy.” However, in 2021 they disregarded all scientific reasoning and eliminated all requirements related to medical evaluation and hormone therapy.

“All students should have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity… Athletes will participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed. School personnel responsible for student eligibility will work collaboratively with the student-athlete to determine eligibility.”

Even more troubling to students and parents, WIAA eliminated aggrieved students and competing schools’ right to even question the participation of a trans student in female sports.

The rationale behind the changes was outlined in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s 2021 Gender Diversity Toolkit where they inaccurately argue trans athletes on teams have “not been shown to diminish opportunities for others” and that there are  “no competitive advantages.” 

Parents and coaches in the Emerald South Conference disagree. One of the coaches we spoke with said,

“Girls in cross country frequently peak their freshman or sophomore year. They grow “unhelpful” (for running longer and faster) body parts as they mature. It is the very rare (and not at all curvy) girl that keeps getting better all the way through high school. This is why high school teams tend to be younger girl dominated. The opposite is true of boys. They keep getting bigger and stronger — not growing any unhelpful (breasts and hips) body parts.” 

Not only do biological males have the advantages of greater lung capacity, bone density, and muscle mass, “our daughters are also going through puberty and developing breasts and hips and having a period every month. [Hoffman] doesn't have any of that and it is also an advantage — apart from his body being different,” noted one parent. 

Males that compete in female sports are taking away opportunities specifically meant for girls.  “What about [Hoffman’s] teammate that was bumped off the varsity? These girls are losing their opportunity to not just get to state but maybe earn a scholarship. Schools can only run seven people on varsity. This means when [Hoffman]  joined the girl's team a biological girl got pulled back.” 

The parents and coaches we spoke with continued to emphasize their concern, “This is just about fairness in female sports. It would be just as insane if we made a girl who's transitioning to be a boy compete against the girls,” said a league coach.

The Left has taken any reasonable discussion of biological males competing in female sports, including those based on safety and science, off the table. Instead, they resort to silencing anyone with an opposing view by labeling them transphobes and hateful bigots. Their tactics sadly only serve to diminish biological girls’ accomplishments and deprive them of an even playing field with equal access to athletic opportunities.