High School Male Athlete Receives Boos After Winning Female State Championships

While it is not customary for the person who took second place receive the higher praise than the person who took first, this is exactly what happened at the Oregon School Activities Association Track and Field State Championships on Saturday, May 18th.

Crowd boo as Transgender athlete wins 1st place in girl’s running competition.

Transgender male Aayden Gallagher caused the crowd to erupt in fury when he beat his nearest female competitor by two-tenths of a second.

The boy was crowned state champion of the Oregon Girls' 6A… pic.twitter.com/zZXuI1Qfky

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 20, 2024

Aayden Gallagher, a biological male, competed in the girls 200-meter race at the University of Oregon in Eugene, he would go on to win by two tenths of a second.

Gallagher also placed second in the 400m dash as well.

Coincidentally, Gallagher’s time of 23.82 seconds would not have even qualified him for the boys event.

The boys 200m champ (Mihaly Akpamgbo) ran a 21.37 in contrast to male cheater Aayden Gallagher who ran a 23.82. That is a 2.45 second difference which is likely close to 10 or 20 meters. Aayden would not have even qualified for the real boys heats. UNFAIR!https://t.co/t32iQogmNk

— Michael505 (@Michael94267904) May 19, 2024

While many people are split on social media, nearly everyone in the stands on Saturday were whole heartedly against Gallagher competing.

Just listen to the boos from the crowds after he gets the gold medal:

⛔️ BOOOOO! ✔️
Aayden Gallagher a 10th grade boy at McDaniel High School gets “loudly Boo’d” as they announced him 1st place in the women’s 200m Oregon State Championship 👀 pic.twitter.com/jFADGMdbfR

— ♪メღ Debra Whyte ♪メღ (@debrawhyte) May 20, 2024

Gallagher’s win is just another factor in the debate for trans athletes in athletics.

Unfortunately for the females competing at this event, Oregon is one of 25 states within the United States that allow transgender students to participate in school sports aligning with their gender identity.

NBC News provides more on what Republican lawmakers are doing to stop this madness:

Twelve Republican state lawmakers sent a letter to the OSAA in April condemning the policy and vowing to challenge it. The lawmakers, all of whom are women, cited Gallagher’s participation in the girls’ high school track and field division as reason for their concern.

While people are attempting to defend Gallagher’s win, countless people have taken to X to express their opinions of the matter:

It's disheartening to see the efforts of young women being overshadowed by a situation that could have been prevented. The real issue here isn't the individual athletes, but the system that allows such discrepancies in competition. It's time for a change.

— RealTrumpTake (@RealTrumpTake) May 20, 2024

This gotta stop.

Trans athlete Aayden Gallagher absolutely dominates the women’s varsity 400M at Portland city league championships.

Note to all “women” athletes. DO NOT participate in these events. Parents need to stand up for their daughters.

The “Woman” in the white… pic.twitter.com/jYs60MEhOY

— CoolBlue (@BackThebluecool) May 10, 2024

I have been reporting on this story since it first hit social media. Many of these parents had no idea Aayden Gallagher was a boy until he hit the track. This is the last race he ran in where he beat fellow sophomore, and track star, Aster Jones.

At this point people in the… pic.twitter.com/MMbxj9L8FN

— HoneyBadgerMom aka CK Bouferrache (@hunnybadgermom) May 19, 2024

The change needs to happen at the political level, people will continue to cheat and take advantage of the system until something prevents a scenario like this from even happening.