A Washington state father has been barred from Camas School District property for a year after he protested a transgender runner competing against his daughter and other girls on the Skyview High School cross country team.
The runner, Logan Mihailoff, is a Camas High student who finished 76th in a junior varsity boys race on Sept. 5, then began competing as a girl midway through the season under Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) rules, which allow such a switch. On Sept. 26, Mihailoff placed second among 195 girls in a Portland race. On Sept. 29, Mihailoff won a varsity boys race against Union High School.
Ahead of a Sept. 15 meet against Camas, Skyview runners Sierra Retzlaff and Charlie Garrett learned they would be racing against a boy. The two decided to protest by walking to the starting line with body paint reading “keep women in women’s sports,” then walking off once the race began.
Sierra’s father, Joel Retzlaff, and his wife brought two signs to the meet. One read: “It will never be OK for a XY to steal an opportunity from a XX.” The other read: “Please only XX competing with XX, XY competing with XY. Keep it fair.”
WIAA bars signage at meets apart from team banners. Camas athletic director Stephen Baranowski asked Retzlaff to leave over the signs. Retzlaff took the signs down but kept protesting, chanting “Keep boys out of girls sports!” as he walked to his car after his daughter’s race. He then drove past the venue, honking his horn and repeating the chant while a friend held the signs out the car window.
Camas School District issued Retzlaff a criminal trespass notice barring him from district property for one year. Superintendent John Anzalone said Retzlaff had driven through a construction-tape barrier and that the notice was issued for safety reasons. Retzlaff called that explanation “valid” but has not backed off his protest.
“I would beg to ask them where all the adults are that know the difference between a boy and a girl and why they’re letting this happen,” Retzlaff said.
Garrett said Mihailoff’s mother followed her and recorded her for much of the meet, and did not stop when Garrett’s mother, Emily Sadowski, asked her to. Garrett said Sierra Retzlaff has received support since the protest but has also lost friends over it.
“I thought it was more important to show how this is affecting me and all the girls in our district,” Garrett said, adding she holds no ill will toward Mihailoff. “It comes down to biology and the spots being taken away from Sierra, me and all the girls.”
Washington voters will decide the issue at the ballot box on Nov. 3. Initiative 638 would ban biological boys from competing in K-12 girls’ sports statewide, which supporters say would be the first time voters nationwide enacted such a law directly.
