Viral video shows Oregon high school female athletes refusing to share podium with trans competitor

EUGENE, OREGON: The Oregon state high school track and field championship wasn’t just about medals, as it turned into a silent but powerful protest against biological male athletes playing in women's sports.

High school seniors Reese Eckard from Sherwood High and Alexa Anderson from Tigard High made headlines not for their jumps, but for what they did after.

Footage showed the two athletes stepping down from their spots on the podium rather than sharing it with a transgender competitor from Ida B Wells High School during the high jump medal ceremony.

The trans athlete, who previously competed in the boys’ category in both 2023 and 2024, tied for fifth place, finishing behind both Eckard, who placed fourth, and Anderson, who took third.

But instead of smiling for the cameras and accepting medals like the rest, the high school seniors turned away as officials handed out the awards. When an official confronted them and motioned for them to move, the teens walked away from the podium and stood off to the side, the New York Post reported.

High school seniors lauded for stepping down from podium

It didn’t take long for the video to make waves on social media. Conservative commentator Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer and outspoken critic of transgender athletes in women’s sports, gave the girls their props.

“Watch this. Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place,” Gaines posted on X (formerly Twitter), adding, “Girls have had enough.”

The “Libs of TikTok” account also praised Eckard and Anderson’s quiet act of defiance, joining a chorus of supporters who hailed the girls as brave for taking a stand.

Anderson made it clear in a statement to Fox News that this wasn’t about hate—it was about principle.

“We didn’t refuse to stand on the podium out of hate. We did it because someone has to say this isn’t right. In order to protect the integrity and fairness of girls' sports, we must stand up for what is right,” she said.

Not the first protest of its kind

This isn’t the first time female athletes have pushed back against competing alongside transgender girls.

Just this past April, women’s fencer Stephanie Turner refused to compete against a trans athlete during a match in Maryland, taking a knee instead. That act resulted in a one-year probation from USA Fencing.

And in California this May, 16-year-old Reese Hogan from Crean Lutheran High School found herself in a similar situation. She finished second to a trans athlete in the CIF Southern Section Finals triple jump, but when trans competitor AB Hernandez stepped down from the top spot on the podium, Hogan stepped up on it to show her defiance.

These moments keep piling up as more states allow transgender athletes to participate in girls’ competitions.

Over the weekend, similar stories cropped up in California, Washington, Maine, and Minnesota, most of them Democratic-led states where the rules permit biological males to compete in girls' events, Fox News reported.

Title IX complaints and a Donald Trump admin crackdown

On May 27, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI)—a nonpartisan research organization—filed a Title IX discrimination complaint against Oregon over its current laws.

The complaint was submitted to the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which is already investigating similar cases in California, Minnesota, Maine, and Massachusetts.

“Every girl deserves a fair shot – on the field, on the podium, and in life,” said Jessica Hart Steinmann, AFPI’s general counsel and vice chair of the Center for Litigation. “When state institutions knowingly force young women to compete against biological males, they’re violating federal law and sending a devastating message to female athletes across the country."

That’s exactly where President Donald Trump is stepping in. On February 5, he signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order, and his administration has doubled down on cracking down on Democratic-led states that continue to support trans athletes in girls' sports.

The Department of Justice has already filed a lawsuit against Maine for defying Trump’s executive order. The president hinted that California might be the next to feel the heat, with federal funding possibly on the chopping block due to its handling of the controversy involving Hernandez.

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