LYNNWOOD — A roundtable discussion on whether boys should be allowed to compete in girls’ sports drew about 60 attendees to the Lynnwood Event Center on March 14 after the Edmonds Waterfront Center canceled the event just weeks before the scheduled date during International Women’s Month.
Jess Grant, co-founder of Title IX Edmonds, expressed appreciation for the Lynnwood venue stepping in on short notice and praised its staff for remaining neutral. About a dozen protesters gathered outside the Lynnwood Event Center, but the event proceeded smoothly with added security.
“Lynnwood kept to its word,” Grant said in an interview with the Lynnwood Times. “The Event Center personnel didn’t get involved in the issues, and they were great.”
He contrasted that with his disappointment over the Edmonds cancellation, which came after the facility reviewed the event title and cited potential safety concerns despite a signed contract and paid fee.
The forum, titled “Should Boys Be Allowed to Compete in Girls’ Sports?,” was co-hosted by Title IX Edmonds and Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender, known as DIAG. It featured four female panelists who examined fairness, safety and dignity in female athletics.
Speakers included citizen journalist Alesha Perkins of Thurston County’s OSD Rescue Substack; high school athlete Frances Staudt, who refused to compete against a male opponent and later faced school discipline; Lynden school board director Khush Brar; and Jefferson County women’s rights activist Amy Sousa, who holds a master’s in depth psychology.
Grant, a longtime Edmonds resident, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and journalist who co-founded Title IX Edmonds last summer, opened by stressing the importance of clear language in the debate. He described the group as a bipartisan sports booster organization dedicated to protecting single-sex categories under Title IX, the 1972 federal law guaranteeing equal educational opportunities regardless of sex.
The organization has tabled at local campuses, attended girls basketball games wearing “Save Women’s Sports” shirts and built membership through public forums. DIAG, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit of liberal voters, focuses on evidence-based medical care, safeguarding women’s and girls’ rights and countering what it calls the harms of sex-denialism.
Panelists discussed the physiological advantages males bring to girls sports, safety incidents such as the concussion suffered by volleyball player Payton McNabb after a spike from a male competitor and an incident involving a Puyallup wrestler Kallie Keeler who was allegedly sexually assaulted during a match against a male opponent. They also addressed privacy concerns in locker rooms. Staudt shared how her refusal to play led to a bullying investigation at school and a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education.
The groups maintain that boys in girls sports undermine the meritocracy Title IX created for female athletes, who gain the chance to be strong, aggressive and successful in ways culture often discourages. Grant formed the group after years in the gender-critical movement, including protests and recording music under the pseudonym “Whistle,” to support local female athletes facing the issue in Snohomish County.
In Washington, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has allowed transgender students to compete consistent with their gender identity since 2007, a policy that recent advisory proposals to restrict males in girls categories failed to change because they would violate state anti-discrimination law.
State law requires schools to permit participation aligned with gender identity. A citizen initiative backed by Let’s Go Washington after collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures, the Protect Girls’ Sports Initiative seeks to protect girls sports by ensuring girls sports remain single-sex categories and is headed to the November ballot.
A New York Times/Ipsos (January 2 to January 10, 2025) survey found 79% of Americans, including 67% of Democrats, believe biological males should not compete in women’s sports.
Federally, President Donald J Trump’s February 2025 executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” directs the government to withhold funding from programs that allow transgender females in girls and women’s athletics, prompting Title IX investigations into non-compliant schools. Staudt’s complaint contributed to scrutiny of Washington state school districts.
Author: Mario Lotmore
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Great article.