Transgender high school runner in Oregon booed after winning girls’ state title

A high school transgender runner was booed while being crowned as the Oregon Girls’ 6A 200-meter state champion.

Aayden Gallagher, of McDaniel High School, won the state title by two-tenths of a second. Gallagher was also booed while crossing the finish line of the race.

Gallagher also had the best time of the preliminary heats in the event.

The sophomore also ran the fastest 400-meter prelim, but lost the final of the 400-meter by 0.15 of a second.

The meet took place in Eugene, Oregon, the same stadium where the U.S. Championships and Olympic Trials take place.

Gallagher caused outrage on social media on Wednesday after competing in several events at the Portland Interscholastic League Championship semifinals against girls.

Gallagher finished in first place in the 400-meter preliminary event with a 56.14 time – 0.23 seconds better than the second-place finisher. Gallagher finished second in the 200-meter preliminary event with a time of 24.49 – about 0.17 slower than the first-place finisher.

Those events led her to qualifying for the state finals that occurred this weekend.

The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) has a policy for transgender participation in high school sports.

“The OSAA endeavors to allow students to participate for the athletic or activity program of their consistently asserted gender identity while providing a fair and safe environment for all students,” the policy stated.

“As with Rule 8.2 regarding Duration of Eligibility / Graduation, rules such as this one promote harmony and fair competition among member schools by maintaining equality of eligibility and increase the number of students who will have an opportunity to participate in interscholastic activities.”

Additionally, the OSAA rules state that “once a transgender student has notified the student’s school of their gender identity, the student shall be consistently treated as that gender for purposes of eligibility for athletics and activities, provided that if the student has tried out or participated in an activity, the student may not participate during that same season on a team of the other gender.”

This comes a few weeks after five middle school girls in West Virginia were barred from competing in a track and field event after protesting and refusing to participate in an event due to a transgender athlete’s inclusion in the meet.

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.