It’s not just the coach that was upset over Hoffman’s wins. Libs of TikTok spoke to several parents of young female athletes in the conference who are understandably upset.
“[Hoffman] is larger than any of the girls, and shamelessly takes 1st place on the podium. Now my daughter is competing against a male for scholarships. And we can’t even say anything. You can’t even approach it in a nice way without being labeled a hateful bigot. You will get threats against you,” said one father.
Parents are terrified to even raise concerns about Hoffman’s presence on the girls’ team. Another parent noted, “parents are upset but they know it has to go to the state committee, which isn't politics, it's the state high school board, and unless there's any kind of pressure put on them to change the rule nothing's going to happen.”
In 2007, the
Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) adopted the
International Olympic Committee's position, which stated that trans individuals could participate in sports in their reassigned gender, provided they had undergone surgery and a minimum of two years of hormone treatments. Then in 2018, WIAA updated its
policy lifting the surgical component, “an MTF [Male to Female] student must have one calendar year of medically documented testosterone suppression therapy to be eligible to participate on a female team, consistent with WIAA policy.” However, in 2021 they disregarded all scientific reasoning and
eliminated all requirements related to medical evaluation and hormone therapy.
“All students should have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity… Athletes will participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed. School personnel responsible for student eligibility will work collaboratively with the student-athlete to determine eligibility.”
Even more troubling to students and parents, WIAA eliminated aggrieved students and competing schools’
right to even question the participation of a trans student in female sports.
The rationale behind the changes was outlined in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s
2021 Gender Diversity Toolkit where they inaccurately argue trans athletes on teams have “not been shown to diminish opportunities for others” and that there are “no competitive advantages.”