Staff Reports
The little town of Camas has become the latest battleground in a fight that should have a simple answer: girls’ sports are for girls. A rally called “Camas Courage” drew about 200 people this week to back high school female runners who walked out rather than race against a biological male who switched onto a girls’ team. That local stand has turned into a hard look at Initiative 638 — and at whether adults will finally do what’s fair for young women.
Camas Rally shines a light on I-638 and fairness in school sports
The crowd in Camas wasn’t a mob. It was parents and teammates who say they want clear rules so girls don’t lose spots or scholarships to boys who simply change teams. The switch at Camas High School and the subsequent walkouts in nearby schools have become the example Initiative 638 backers point to when they say medical verification is not headline-grabbing cruelty but plain fairness. Voters will decide whether the state should require a simple check of biological sex for girls’ teams as part of routine sports physicals.
What Initiative 638 actually requires
Read in plain words, I-638 would bar students the measure defines as biologically male from competing in certain girls’ athletic activities. It would also require a doctor to document a student’s biological sex using things like anatomy, genetics, or natural testosterone levels as part of a sports physical. Supporters say this modest step restores fairness. Opponents call it invasive. Either way, the initiative changes the current WIAA policy, which lets students play based on gender identity.
Why parents and girls are fed up
Parents and athletes say this is about the basics: safety, fairness, and opportunity. Girls who trained for months were told to step aside or protest to be allowed to race. One of the students who walked off later watched the Camas athlete finish near the front in the girls’ race. That fuels the anger. Schools and athletic associations can argue policy, but moms and dads see tangible harm. If the rule change seems blunt, that’s because adults made the rules muddled and left kids to sort it out.
The vote, the money, and what comes next
This fight now moves from a small stadium to the ballot box. Campaign money is flowing on both sides — unions and nonprofits oppose I-638, while grassroots parents and some Democratic voters back it. If voters approve the initiative, expect an immediate scramble over implementation: who pays for tests, how medical privacy is protected, and whether lawsuits await under Title IX. Voters should weigh the messy logistics against the simple question at the heart of this: do we protect girls’ sports? If you care about fairness for female athletes, this is the kind of local fight that deserves a statewide answer.
