A biological male who identifies as transgender has won the California-Nevada high school state championship in skiing, and the father of one of the female competitors is speaking out against it.
June Watterson, the transgender high school sophomore at Davis Senior High School, took first place in the High School State Champions women's slalom race at the California-Nevada Interscholastic Ski & Snowboard Federation state finals on March 6.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, Watterson won with a combined result of 1:08.29. The second-place finisher, Carlie Chandler, lost by 17 seconds.
A father of one of the girls competing spoke to the British newspaper about the male skier being allowed to compete, asking to remain anonymous "noting that others who have spoken out against trans athletes have been met with relentless backlash and he hoped to protect his daughter's privacy."
"Hormones and drugs are just introducing drugs into sport. It's not fair on the girls. I'm all about being inclusive and accepting people, but they have men racing in women's sports," the father said.
The father continued, "It's pretty clear to me or anyone with a brain that if you are going through or have gone through male puberty then you should only race against people who have gone through or are going through male puberty."
Though he remains upset, his daughter and her team had "come to terms" with what was happening, according to the father.
"'I asked her how she felt. She said she was supportive, and her team had 'come to terms' with it," he said. "These kids, they are kids, [and] live in the world adults have created. I don't blame the winning athlete. This is a failure at the administrative level and higher."
The parent does not believe that the girls should be expected to just "come to terms" with having to compete against biological males, especially since it is not a co-ed or open division.
"Speaking for parents of female athletes, are we just expected to 'come to terms' with this? No amount of hormone therapy or re/deconstructive surgery will change the biological muscular and skeletal differences between those born with XX and those born with XY chromosomes," he said. "The assumption is that when my daughter competes in the women's division, she competes against other females. She is not in a co-ed or open division."
The father added, "I'll point out the obvious: you ruin women's sports by allowing males to compete in women's sports."
The report says, "Watterson has openly spoken about her transition on social media, just two weeks ago posting a picture of herself at the Redwood/Repack region cycling Petaluma round up. She said she was only six months into taking estrogen and was still competing in the men's heat for the competition. It remains unclear why she was competing in men's cycling and women's skiing."
Watterson has since deleted the social media posts and set his Instagram account to private.
Before the account was locked down, the Daily Mail reports that there was a post saying, "there were a lot of factors this season that made it not the season I was hoping for, including being 6 months on estrogen in the men's field, but I'm still happy with how I did the whole season."
"I'm looking forward to next year and hopefully competing in women's varsity! The work isn't done though, and I still have the whole summer season and cyclocross until then! See you out there," another post read, according to the report.
Watterson had competed with the male ski team during his freshman year.
