Yesterday the Washington Post published a story which was clearly intended to paint a trans-female athlete in the most positive light possible. The story is titled “For young transgender runner, racing wasn’t the hardest thing.” The hardest thing, the story argues, was poverty or maybe opposition to her competing as a girl and repeatedly beating out actual female competitors in various races.
The author of this screed does everything she can to make Veronica sympathetic but, as you’ll seen in a bit, it doesn’t really work. Readers of the piece, even those for feel some empathy for Veronica, don’t think competing against women is right.
Verónica looked at the awards she had hung on the wall. She won most of them at small-town events. Last year, she earned her first big medal — the 2A Washington state championship in the girls’ 400 meters. The win had changed her life, but not in the ways she had hoped. Colleges had not sent her scholarship offers or letters of interest. Her high school had not listed her on its wall of champions. All she had to show for that win was a gold medal and a growing list of people around the country who wanted to take it away.
The villain in this story is Riley Gaines who dared to challenge Veronica’s right to compete on the girl’s team.
Former college swimmer Riley Gaines posted videos of her online, and some of Gaines’s 1.6 million followers said Verónica was a cheat who should be arrested. Two dozen states had banned girls like Verónica from competing. Even prominent Democrats echoed public surveys that showed two-thirds of Americans believe transgender women have an unfair advantage competing against female athletes.
But sports were never fair, Verónica thought as she rode a school bus to a track across town. The swimmer Michael Phelps had an unusually long wingspan, and Brittney Griner towered over the WNBA. Once upon a time, Verónica had had higher testosterone levels than other girls, but she wasn’t sure that was the case anymore. Even if it were, she knew plenty of girls who had advantages she did not. Some hired personal trainers. Others had the kind of expensive shoes that can help propel runners ahead of their competition. Her own shoes were donated and two sizes too small.
The idea that sports were never fair is obviously a lie in this context. Until very recently, no female athlete was expected to compete against male athletes. In that sense it was strictly fair. And then the trans activists came along and decided that fair was unfair to people who’d decided they were born in the wrong body. For those people, the old rules don’t apply.
Today would be the first time in nine months that she would race against her toughest competitor, a junior named Lauren Matthew. Lauren was one of the best athletes in Eastern Washington. She played soccer for a nearly undefeated team. She raced club track in the summers. And she had finished just behind Verónica at the 2024 state championships.
Now, it was a Saturday in late March, and few people had come to watch their first rematch. Lauren and Verónica crouched into position one lane apart, but they didn’t look at each other. A gun fired. They bolted out of their blocks, and suddenly, Verónica wasn’t hungry or afraid. She ran with the kind of joy she only felt in competition, and when she and Lauren crossed the finish line, the scoreboard showed they had both clocked personal records — 56.65 seconds for Lauren, 55.23 for Verónica…
“That’s a whole-ass man and a half,” a student spectator yelled from a fence 10 feet away, where half a dozen girls had gathered to heckle Verónica.
The hecklers aren’t being kind but they aren’t wrong either. Veronica is not a girl, despite a year of hormone therapy. Veronica went through puberty as a boy. This is the critical advantage that none of the other competitors had.
Would you look at that…the thing that never happens happened again.
🚨Veronica Garcia (Donovan Brown) just won the Washington State Championship in the girls’ 400m in total domination.
In Washington & Oregon this past week, the fastest “girl” in the each state has been a boy. pic.twitter.com/jbAEhdyTDl
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 25, 2024
That was 2024, shortly after Veronica started hormone treatment. A year later, nothing had changed.
The gun fired. Verónica’s French braid swung in the wind, and her toes curled inside her too-tight shoes as she overtook one runner, then another. No one was ahead of her as she reached the final 100 meters, but she could feel Lauren closing in. Verónica pushed herself until she thought her limbs might fly off, then she spilled over the finish line.
She gasped for air and looked at the clock: 55.70 seconds. Not the meet record or her own PR, but good enough for first place. Lauren, again, had run a second slower.
The best woman 400 runner in the state had come in 2nd place again. But that’s not supposed to matter. In fact, the story presents the reaction of the crowd as hateful.
“And in first place,” the announcer said, “your 2025 winner, in a time of 55.70 from East Valley in Spokane, Verónica García.”
The crowd booed loud and long. Teenage boys yelled that Verónica should “get out,” and none of her fellow competitors clapped. Verónica pulled her shoulders back, climbed the podium and smiled.
Again, the crowd is right. This sham of a competition isn’t fair to the female competitors. Even after reading this heavily biased article designed to make Veronica sympathetic, most commenters at the Washington Post still say boys shouldn’t compete in girls sports.
This is a moving story, BUT….the fact remains that this is a guy participating in a woman’s sport. It’s not merely a question of harming a female athlete; clearly track is not a contact sport. BUT…we created Title IX to give our female athletes fairness and equal opportunity to compete and succeed. Males in women’s sports completely upends that goal and fairness – the ability to train and compete and win and feel proud about an accomplishment. This young trans person has a hard life. I feel for him. But the answer isn’t upending Title IX and causing by putting a male body in the competition.
And another one:
I think this young lady should be able to live her life and get the treatment she needs. Having said that, I ve watched a trans kid in my state routinely beat all the top HS girls. This kid looked like a boy with a ribbon in their hair. They still would be top 20 in The boys division. I saw girls who would have been state champs and probably would get great college offers not able to win. Did this affect their college recruiting? Its not fair.
Less sympathetic but still accurate:
No matter how many times Veronica is referred to as “she”, Veronica is male. Veronica will always be male. And female sports was and is explicitly created solely for females. And I really am sad and sorry that Veronica is so confused and unhappy about being male.
And so on:
It’s really quite simple. Veronica could have competed against the boys and eliminated all of the drama.
I could go on:
Sports are separated for biological reasons not how you dress. Trans females have no business in women’s sports.
These are Post subscribers, a very progressive group.
Why do we have to deal with this all the time? These people are males and should not be competing against females. If they want to wear a dress, change their names, wear make up and act like a woman, they’re free to do so, but not in sports where they have an unfair advantage. Please stop these tiresome, propagandist pieces as you’re making it worse for these people.
Anyway, there are a few people spouting the trans activist party line but the majority are not. Most people are done being emotionally manipulated on this issue.
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