A video of a transgender high school athlete zipping past her competitors and leaving them behind at a track and field meet has sparked outrage online.
The video, originally shared online by feminist magazine Reduxx, shows McDaniel High School sophomore Aayden Gallagher speeding past a group of biological female athletes and keeping a great distance between them and her before she ultimately crosses the finish line at the 25.49-second mark.
The other athletes do not cross the finish line until around the 31-second mark.
Gallagher ultimately finished second in the Girls 200 Meters Varsity at the Sherwood Need for Speed Classic in Oregon on Saturday, with Aster Jones edging her out of first place, race results show.
Under current policy, the Oregon School Activities Association “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.”
It goes on to note that once a transgender student has notified their 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.”
Gallagher has also said she would take hormone replacement therapy, telling her high school newspaper last year that she believed it would make her “a lot more confident because right now I’m just going to keep on getting more and more masculine — more facial hair, stuff like that.
“And I don’t want that.”
But as the video of her victory at the Sherwood Need for Speed spread over the weekend, many online said she has an unfair advantage over the biological female athletes.
“These high school girls just had their dreams stolen from them because the school is catering [to] the delusions of a boy who pretends to be a girl,” popular X account Libs of TikTok wrote.
“He is a cheater.”
Meghan Murphy, a Canadian podcaster and author, also slammed the video as “sick and disgusting.”
“I want to know why his parents are allowing him to mock female athletes, why his coach is allowing him to cheat and why these girls’ coaches and parents aren’t speaking up,” she posted online.
Two-time Team USA track and field star Carilyn Johnson further argued: “At some point, we have to be willing to see this for what it is.
“Please stop pretending like this is anything other than telling young female athletes they don’t matter.”
One parent, who said her daughter also competed in the 200-meter race, blasted the video as “insane.”
“How can ANYONE think this is fair?” she asked.
The mother wrote that the athletes come from across Oregon to compete in the event “and this is what they got — being beaten by a boy.”
She went on to say that Saturday’s results would likely propel Gallagher to the state competition, where she “will beat all the girls (except maybe one), break records and be called a hero — for being a male who races against the girls and wins.
“We must demand a third category in high school competitions, or races must be by biological gender,” the mother continued.
“Anything else is making a mockery of female athletics.”
