Nearly half of the Camas High School girls' cross-country team walked away from the course approximately 50 meters from the starting line before a league meet began on Tuesday, forfeiting the race in protest of a transgender teammate who had switched from the boys' squad midseason. The demonstration unfolded at a Class 4A Greater St. Helens League meet amid Washington's ongoing debate over transgender eligibility rules in school sports.
The runner at the center of the dispute, junior Logan Mihailoff, competed on the boys' junior varsity cross-country team on September 5 before switching to the girls' team and winning a girls' race at a September 29 dual meet, according to The Columbian. The walkout came two weeks after that win, and MyNorthwest.com reported the protest, citing a social media post describing its scale.
According to KATU, the Camas School District said it followed state guidelines in allowing the switch, though a district spokesperson said officials could not comment further because the matter involves a student. The station reports the spokesperson referred reporters to the district's gender-inclusive policy rather than explaining eligibility rules for this specific case.
What State Rules Actually Require
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association oversees high school sports statewide and says students may participate in athletics consistent with their gender identity, per the same KATU report. WIAA policy holds that school personnel responsible for eligibility are supposed to work collaboratively with student-athletes to sort out eligibility questions under its rules, and the WIAA handbook states that students do not need medical or legal documentation to compete on a team matching their gender identity.
The WIAA's handbook states that students do not need medical or legal documentation to compete on a team matching their gender identity. Separately, state civil rights statutes RCW 28A.642.010 and RCW 49.60, along with guidance from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, require public school districts to provide students equal access to activities including sports that match their gender identity, per OSPI. Camas administrators said they followed state guidelines in allowing the transfer.
A Policy Debate Already Playing Out Statewide
A proposed handbook amendment was put to a vote, The Columbian reported.
Now the question is headed to voters statewide. Washingtonians will decide on Initiative 638 on the November 3 general election ballot, a measure from political group Let's Go Washington that would ban biologically male students from female school sports and require medical sex verification, according to Ballotpedia. The Camas walkout occurred exactly three weeks before that vote, giving the protest an outsized symbolic weight in the campaign's final stretch.
Ballotpedia reports that 27 states have passed laws requiring sex verification for gender-specific sports eligibility. The Camas protest has become a flashpoint for a debate playing out well beyond Clark County.
For now, the Camas School District has offered little beyond its initial statement that it followed state guidance, and school officials have not addressed why the switch happened when it did. With Initiative 638 on the ballot in three weeks, the outcome in Camas is likely to remain a reference point in the statewide argument over who gets to compete on girls' teams, regardless of how the vote turns out.
