Latest news with #TigardHighSchool
Fox News
7 minutes ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Oregon girls open up on 'traumatic' trans athlete experiences that pushed them to fight back
Oregon high school senior Alexa Anderson is now a budding conservative heroine, but she comes from a family of Democrats. When the Tigard High School track and field star refused to stand on the same podium as a trans athlete at the state championship on Saturday, alongside fellow medalist Reese Eckard, Anderson learned right away the treatment an act like that prompted from the political side her family traditionally aligned with. "When me and Reese stepped down there was definitely some confusion, there was definitely some anger and just a lot of people who didn't understand why were were doing this, and it was scary. Everyone was looking at us," Anderson told Fox News Digital. "There was a lot of people on and off the field. I heard shouts of them telling us to get out of the way." The backlash did not end on the field. "There has also been a handful of people that just really don't understand that are reaching out and are calling me a bad person," she added. "When I received one of the first hate comments I kind of just brushed it off, I responded saying 'thank you for sharing your opinion, I respect your opinion, this is mine and this is what I stood for' but it didn't really bother me too much because I was prepared for it, I knew this was going to happen, and I have so many people behind me, supporting me and that number greatly outweighs the people who have been hateful toward me." Anderson was warned by friends, coaches and family about what would happen if she took the stand she took. However, she felt she had to do something as soon as she found out she would be competing against the trans athlete last week. The teen considered withdrawing from the competition altogether, but could not bring herself to waste all of her hard work to get to that point. So she and Eckard came up with the podium idea. Anderson had never even competed against a trans athlete herself in competition prior to that point, but she felt compelled to demonstrate her opposition for the sake of the other girls across the country, especially in her state, who have been impacted by trans inclusion. One of those girls is Glencoe High School junior Lily Hammond. As a sophomore in the winter of 2023-24, Hammond said she unknowingly competed against and shared a locker room with a biological male opponent on another team. She said she competed against the athlete multiple times, assuming the athlete was a biological female. "It wasn't until the last meet that I realized 'oh, that is a trans person,' and by that point it was too late," Hammond told Fox News Digital. "The shock that came was the mistrust and the lying, I felt very betrayed, I felt betrayed by the adults and the coaches on the other team that let it happen without my consent and my knowledge. My team didn't know, my coach didn't know… I felt very violated knowing that a man could have seen me changing." Hammond said she already had to deal with transgender students at her high school entering the girls' restrooms on a regular basis, but she called the experience with her swim team "traumatic." "At the time it was overwhelming and felt traumatic since I was kept in the dark," she said. Hammond is not the only Oregon girl "traumatized" by the issue either. Forest Grove High School senior Maddie Eischen and Newberg High School junior Sophia Carpenter were faced with the prospect of competing against a trans athlete in a state competition called the Chehalem Classic back on April 18. So both of them refused to compete. "I found out the day before, which led to me feeling the need to scratch myself from the meet. The whole day I had anxiety," Eischen told Fox News Digital. "My experience at the Chehalem track meet and scratching myself from the meet was traumatic, something I never imagined ever having to do." Carpenter said she found herself so overwhelmed with emotion from the experience, that she cried on the ride home after the meet. "It was emotionally traumatic trying to know what I should do and how I should respond to competing with [the trans athlete]," Carpenter said. The experience pushed Carpenter to make a visible point when she competed at the state championships this weekend. She showed up to her high jump competition sporting a T-shirt from the activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics. Now, beyond just speaking up against the state's current laws that enable males in their sports, Anderson, Hammond and Carpenter suggested the issue will play heavily into how they vote in future political elections. "Just this last election, looking at the different beliefs between the two candidates, you had one candidate who openly believes biological men should be allowed in women's restrooms and women's sports, and was not doing anything, and then you had another candidate who said 'this will be one of the first things I change,' and that's what Donald Trump did," Hammond said. "In the future, that's something I'm going to look for." Carpenter added, "I've always believed in voting based on the constitution… and while Title IX was not one of the first things that was brought up when our country was created, it goes back to the first amendment and basic human rights, and women deserve these rights too, and right now they're being given to men who feel a certain way." Additionally, while the trans athletes that each of the girls faced played into their trauma, their stand against the state's liberal laws on the issue is not directed at those individuals. It is directed at the lawmakers and education officials who have enabled the males to get to that point. "I feel that they've just been misled," Hammond said. "The faculty at my school is feeding this, the faculty at other schools are feeding this saying 'it's okay if you want to be another person.'" In the last few days, Oregon has become one of the nation's heated battlegrounds on the issues, as the state represents symbolic significance in the sport of track and field. Eugene, Oregon, nicknamed "TrackTown USA," often hosts the World Athletics Championships, U.S. Olympic Trials and NCAA Championships. Now, Anderson's stunt at the high school state championship has put the state under a national microscope and a legal firm has already taken steps to bring federal action against the state. While the Trump administration has focused much of its attention on the issues in Maine and California, launching federal investigations and even a Department of Justice lawsuit against Maine, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) filed a civil rights complaint calling for federal intervention. "Our investigation into Title IX and First Amendment violations in Oregon is about standing up for girls and women sidelined, silenced, and stripped of the fairness and freedom they're guaranteed under federal law," AFPI senior legal strategy attorney Leigh Ann O'Neill told Fox News Digital. "When young women are told to compete against male athletes or stay quiet—or, worse, are punished for speaking the truth—we have to act. Because no one is above the Constitution—not even state sports officials." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
New York Post
a day ago
- General
- New York Post
Oregon track star who refused to share podium with trans athlete reveals alleged conversation with officials after protest
An Oregon high school track and field star who refused to share a podium with a transgender athlete during the girls' high jump medal ceremony alleged officials told her to move away from the ceremony if she wasn't going to participate. Tigard High School's Alexa Anderson went viral when she protested the conclusion of the Oregon State Athletic Association's Girls High Jump finale at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., on May 31. Anderson and Sherwood High School's Reese Eckard, who finished in third and fourth place, stood behind the ascending podium in the infield during the ceremony because they refused to stand next to Ida B. Wells High School transgender student Liaa Rose, who placed fifth. Advertisement 4 Tigard High School's Alexa Anderson went viral when she protested the conclusion of the Oregon State Athletic Association's Girls High Jump finale at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., on May 31. @LaLONeill/X 'We stepped off the podium in protest and, as you can see, the official kind of told us 'hey, go over there, if you're not going to participate, get out of the photos,'' she told Fox News' 'The Ingraham Angle.' Anderson, a University of South Alabama commit, alleged that the area where they were told to stand was out of the view of the photographers. Advertisement 'They asked us to move away from the medal stand, so when they took the photos, we weren't even in it at all,' she told the outlet. Anderson and Eckard had synchronously stepped off their respective platforms and turned their backs to the podium as the names of the top eight finishers were announced. An official spotted them and pointed them away from the podium, frustrating Anderson. 4 Alexa Anderson, a University of South Alabama commit, alleged that the area where they were told to stand was out of the view of the photographers. Fox News Advertisement 4 A meet officials tells Eckard and Anderson to move away from the platform during the pictures. @LaLONeill/X Rose jumped 5 feet and 1.65 inches in the competition, behind Eckard's 5 feet 3 inches and Anderson's 5 feet 4.25 inches. Anderson and Eckard, both seniors, felt it was unfair for them to compete against a transgender opponent who competed in the boys division in 2023 and 2024. Advertisement 'It's unfair because biological males and biological females compete at such different levels that letting a biological male into our competition is taking up space and opportunities from all these hardworking women, the girl in ninth who should have came in eighth and had that podium spot taken away from her, as well as many others,' Anderson said. Anderson said it was the first time she publicly protested a transgender athlete but had always supported other females who took a stand against the controversial policy in high school sports. 'This is the first public stand that I have taken in this issue, but I have privately supported all the girls that have done with positive messages, commenting on posts, just supporting them and letting them know I'm behind them in any way,' Anderson said. At the same time as Anderson's protest, transgender athlete Verónica Garcia won the state Class 2A 400-meter dash in nearby Washington. Garcia won the race by over a second and called out the critics for the dominating win against biological females. 'I'll be honest, I kind of expect it,' Garcia told the outlet. 'But it maybe didn't have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I'm going to push,' Garcia said after the race. 4 Anderson and Eckard, both seniors, felt it was unfair for them to compete against a transgender opponent who competed in the boys division in 2023 and 2024. @LaLONeill/X Advertisement The 17-year-old senior from East Valley High School had made Washington State last year by being the first transgender athlete to win a title. 'I'm going to put this in the most PG-13 way, I'm just going to say it's a damn shame they don't have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people,' she added. With Post wires
Mint
3 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Oregon high school girls REFUSE to stand with trans athlete on podium — Martina Navratilova reacts
Two Oregon high school athletes made headlines over the weekend after refusing to share the winners' podium with a transgender competitor at the girls' high jump state championships. Reese Eckard (Sherwood High School) and Alexa Anderson (Tigard High School) stepped down from the podium after a transgender athlete placed fifth. Anderson had placed third, while Eckard took fourth. Tennis legend and outspoken advocate for women's sports, Martina Navratilova, responded strongly to the incident on X (formerly Twitter). "Women and girls are punished no matter what they do in this misogynistic world…" Navratilova wrote. She added, "Feminists never asked for this. At least not the great majority of us… never." Navratilova responded to the growing debate on X (formerly Twitter), emphasising that women are being unfairly targeted for protesting rules they didn't create. "Stop blaming women for this. Women do not make the rules," she replied to a social media user's post. "Majority of women are against it too. Women get punished no matter what they do." Addressing the consequences faced by athletes who refuse to compete under current regulations, Navratilova added: "Because not competing can get you banned from the sport. The rules must change, and those are made by men mostly." In a broader critique of gender dynamics in sport and society, Navratilova continued in another reply to a user's comment: "The world is misogynistic, the world is patriarchal, and most of the rules are made by men. And all of the danger comes from men." Navratilova has repeatedly criticised Democratic lawmakers for not acting to protect women's sports. Earlier this year, she condemned Democrats for blocking the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. "I hate that the Democrats totally failed women and girls on this very clear issue of women's sports being for females only," she said. Calling for stronger action, she urged: "Grow a spine." Navratilova referenced President Donald Trump's "No Men in Women's Sports" executive order, which was signed in February. She lamented that Democrats failed to support similar efforts. She questioned Democratic priorities, asking: "What are the Dems willing to give up for men who identify as trans? Abortion… the Constitution… rule of law… That's just for starters…" The incident and Navratilova's comments reignite an ongoing national debate around transgender participation in women's sports—a debate that continues to divide public figures, lawmakers, and athletic communities across the US.
Fox News
3 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova reacts as Oregon HS girls refuse to share podium with trans athlete
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova reacted to two Oregon high school athletes who refused to stand with a transgender athlete following the girls' high jump state championships on Saturday. Reese Eckard, of Sherwood High School, and Alexa Anderson, of Tigard High School, stepped down from the podium and refused to share the spot with the transgender athlete who finished in fifth place. Anderson finished in third and Eckard in fourth. Footage obtained by Fox News Digital showed an official confronting Eckard and Anderson. "Women and girls are punished no matter what they do in this misogynistic world…" Navratilova wrote on X. She added that "Feminists never asked for this. At least not the great majority of us… never." Navratilova has been a major voice in the effort to protect women's sports. She has been particularly critical of Democrats who have failed to step up to the plate, with their Republican colleagues, to help pass legislation to prohibit males from competing in girls' and women's sports. At the start of the year, Navratilova criticized Democratic lawmakers who killed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. The tennis legend called on Democrats to "grow a spine" in a post on social media. President Donald Trump signed the "No Men in Women's Sports" executive order in February, and Navratilova lamented that Democrats failed to do what the president did. "I hate that the Democrats totally failed women and girls on this very clear issue of women's sports being for females only," she wrote in a post on X. She then posed a question to Democrats as some states thumbed their nose at Trump's executive order. "What are the Dems willing to give up for men who identify as trans?" she asked on X. "Abortion… the Constitution… rule of law… That's just for starters…" Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
International Business Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- International Business Times
Two Female Oregon High Jumpers Refuse to Share Podium with Trans Athlete as They Leave High School Track and Field Championship
Two female high jump athletes refused to stand on the podium alongside a transgender competitor at this weekend's high school state championships in Oregon. Reese Eckard from Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson from Tigard High School have been widely praised on social media, with many calling them heroes, after they appeared to walk away from the medal ceremony in protest of the fifth-place athlete, who is reportedly transgender. Anderson finished third in the competition, while Eckard came in fourth. Video footage obtained by Fox News shows both athletes turning away from the audience instead of stepping onto the podium before an official escorted them away from the medal ceremony. Setting an Example "Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place. Girls have had enough," conservative activist Riley Gaines wrote on X. "Girls have had enough." Anderson spoke to Fox News about her decision in an interview over the weekend. "We didn't refuse to stand on the podium out of hate,' she said. 'We did it because someone has to say this isn't right. In order to protect the integrity and fairness of girls sports we must stand up for what is right." Oregon is among several states challenging President Donald Trump's executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," which warns of cutting off federal funding to states that do not comply. According to a recent AP-NORC poll, around 70 percent of U.S. adults believe that transgender women should not be allowed to compete in girls' or women's sports at the high school, college, or professional levels. That opinion is held by nearly 90 percent of Republicans and about 50 percent of Democrats. The athletic federation announced a policy change following Trump's warning that California could lose federal funding unless it bans transgender female athletes from girls' teams. However, the federation claimed that its decision was made prior to the federal threat. Going Against Trump's Orders The U.S. Department of Justice also announced it would launch an investigation into the athletic federation and the school district that oversees Hernandez's high school to determine whether they violated federal laws prohibiting sex-based discrimination. In California, state law allows transgender students to join sports teams that align with their gender identity, even if the teams are separated by sex. While data on transgender athletes participating in female sports is limited, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified in December that fewer than 10 transgender athletes are currently competing out of the roughly 500,000 collegiate student-athletes nationwide. Both the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association have affirmed that gender exists on a spectrum rather than being strictly male or female—a stance that contradicts the position taken by the White House in its January 20 executive order aimed at "defending women from gender ideology."
