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'Simply cheating!' Outrage as trans athlete on girls team helps school win state title

Massachusetts policy allows for transgender athletes to compete against the genders they identify with

BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS: A Massachusetts high school came under national scrutiny when it used a transgender student-athlete to help win the girls indoor track and field state championship. Chloe Barnes, a junior, scored five of Brookline High School's 63 points with a time of 8.72 in the girls 55m hurdles in late February.

Barnes finished fourth behind one of her teammates but did not advance to Meet of Champions final later in the state tournament. Barnes, who started playing girls' sports this school year, also helped the school win a 4x200-meter relay in January, reports Daily Mail.

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Brookline High won the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletics Association Division 1 indoor track and field championships ahead of Newton North, Wachusett and Central Catholic. Barnes was seen running in front of the field in video footage of the event, which helped Brookline win the Massachusetts State Track Coach's Association Northeast Invitational.

'Just deal with it'

Barnes was following the rules, as the state's policy states that "all students must be allowed to participate in a manner consistent with their gender identity" when there are sex segregated disciplines. "Students who are transgender may participate in accordance with the gender identity they consistently assert at school. Interscholastic athletic activities are addressed through the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Gender Identity Policy (MIAA) clarification," the policy states.

Barnes had previously expressed to a student publication that her critics should "deal with it. Just deal with it" a year prior to starting to play against girls. ICONS Women, a club that advocates for female athletes, said Barnes prevented another girl from competing in the finals and claimed that because boys' hurdles are taller than girls' hurdles, it was simpler for Barnes to compete. 

'Simply cheating!'

Olympian Andy Turner quote-tweeted ICONS, saying, "Simply cheating!! This should not be allowed #SaveWomensSport." 

'This is unfair to our daughters'

Riley Gaines, an All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky and a rising star in the fight against what many see to be biological men participating in women's and girls' sports, also spoke out on Twitter. "Massachusetts girls high school track and field state championship a few weeks ago. Can you guess which is the male?" she wrote, with a picture of Barnes next to her competitors. Congresswoman Mary Miller quoted Gaines' tweet, saying, "This is unfair to our daughters, and parents must start speaking up!"

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