Transgender girl who helped her high school’s track and field team secure state victory

A Massachusetts high school has been criticized for allowing a transgender girl athlete last month to help win the state championship in track and field — amid debate over trans athletes in the sport.

Chloe Barnes helped lead Brookline High School to the state’s Interscholastic Athletics Association Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships over three other schools after competing in the girls’ 55-meter hurdles.

Her fourth place in the race – behind a Brookline teammate – helped her school earn the points needed to win the title.

Barnes, a junior who began participating in girls’ competitions this school year, had previously helped them win a 4×200-meter relay at a January race.

Video from that race shows her sprinting ahead of her competitors and helping Brookline to victory in the Massachusetts State Track Coach’s Association Northeast Invitational.

She followed the rules, as the state’s policy explicitly states that “all students must be able to participate in a manner consistent with their gender identity” when disciplines are segregated by gender.

Barnes (third from left on the track) competes in the girls’ 55m hurdles. Her finish helped Brookline win a championship

‘Students who are transgender are allowed to participate in accordance with the gender identity they consistently represent at school. Interscholastic athletic activities fall under the clarification of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Gender Identity Policy (MIAA),’ the policy states.

A year ago, before he started competing against girls, Barnes had developed a defiant attitude to possible outrage over her participation in girls’ sports, after she had a student newspaper last year that critics should ‘deal with it’. Just learn to live with it.’

This was after practicing with the girls’ team for a year but competing with the boys and saying, ‘It was more because I was just afraid of other people watching me. [me] race.’

Critics have spoken out, with the female athlete advocacy group ICONS Women saying Barnes prevented another girl from competing in the finals and argued that the hurdles for boys are higher than for girls, making it easier for Barnes to compete. compete.

British Olympian Andy Turner quoted ICONS saying: ‘Simply cheating!! This shouldn’t be #SaveWomensSport.”

Riley Gaines, an All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky and a rising star in the effort to prevent what many see as biological men from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, also spoke out on Twitter.

“Massachusetts girls high school track and field state championship a few weeks ago,” she captioned a photo of Barnes alongside her competitors. “Can you guess who the little man is?”

Barnes (right lane) is seen running a girls 4x200m relay in late January

Barnes’ performance also helped Brookline to a title shot in this encounter

Gaines is a rising star on the conservative-speaking circuit, having recently taken part in a panel discussion hosted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to keep student-athletes born biological men out of women’s sports.

The 23-year-old became an activist against transgender women competing on female sports teams after being forced to compete against University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas.

Earlier this year, Gaines criticized President Joe Biden for proposing to change the definition of “sex” in a federal civil rights law to include “gender” and “gender identity.”

The amendments to Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting gender discrimination in schools or other educational programs receiving funding from the federal government, would therefore allow transgender female athletes to compete against biological women in sports.

Doing so, Gaines wrote in an essay, would put biological women at a disadvantage when competing against transgender women.

Gaines took the opportunity to talk about how she was forced to share a locker room with Thomas during the NCAA Championships in March 2022.

Riley Gaines has become a rising star on the conservative-speaking circuit after recently taking part in a panel hosted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to keep student-athletes born biological males out of women’s sports. She is seen here outside the 2023 State of the Union address

Gaines was the guest of Representative Lisa McClain (pictured) at the State of the Union because, in the words of the congressman, she is “a brave young woman… who fights against the universities… who stands up for my daughters. . That’s a great story to tell.”

She wrote, “During the NCAA Championships, I saw a 6’4′ man expose male parts in our women’s locker room.

“To be clear, the anatomy I and many other women had to see confirms that Thomas is male.”

Gaines said she then asked National Collegiate Athletic Association officials where she could change “since I had no intention of undressing in front of a man.”

“They told me there was no protection for me to change in a room that Thomas could not access.

“Basically, the NCAA places the responsibility on women to avoid stripping naked in front of a biological man with biological parts who is sexually attracted to women. Let that sink in for a moment.’

Gaines also served as a panel moderator at the House of Representatives event last week, later swapping for McCarthy’s microphone to hear from Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lisa McLain of Michigan and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.

The speaker opened his event by commenting on the absence of Florida Representative Greg Steube, who introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act last year in the previous Democratic-controlled House.

In addition to Gaines, panelists included volleyball player Macey Petty, former track and field star Margo Knorr, and retired tennis player Chloe Satterfield.

Lia Thomas’s (pictured) participation in the UPenn girls’ swim team has brought the issue of transgender students’ involvement with school sports teams of their chosen gender to the forefront of the current culture wars

During Gaines’ next panel with the three conservative lawmakers, Michigan Rep. McCLain rules that allow students to use locker rooms that align with their chosen gender.

“Where is the equality?” McCLain was furious.

“As a mother, I have no idea what I would have done if my daughter came home and said, ‘Mom, I had to undress in a dressing room in front of a man with a penis.'”

She continued, “You know what I call that? I call that indecent exposure. So let’s just start calling it what it is.’

Conservative efforts to tackle transgender participation in school sports have gained momentum in recent years, especially since Lia Thomas’s emergence.

It has become a new culture war front and even came up as a campaign issue in several races during the 2022 election.

The left and LGBTQ activists have pushed back, claiming that policies that force students to participate in school activities designated by biological sex — rather than gender identity — are repressive on transgender youth.

Currently, 18 states have laws prohibiting students from participating in school sports that align with their gender identity, according to the LGBT CARD project.