Oregon Columnist Furious With People Who Think Boys Winning Girls' Races Is Unfair

As more and more stories continue to surface about biological males changing their gender and competing in women's and girls' sports, people are becoming more frustrated. Nearly everyone realizes the unfairness of this, but gender ideology has become such a pervasive force in American society. 

One prominent example is a high school runner in Oregon named Aayden Gallagher. Gallagher, born male but identifying as female, won another girls' race over the weekend. The crowd booed as Gallagher crossed the finish line. 

This is a reasonable reaction, given that the audience largely comprises the parents of the female athletes in the competition. They are rightfully upset that their daughters are losing to a male athlete. 

But an Oregon columnist named Bill Oram wants everyone to know that not only is it fair for this boy to run against girls, but anyone who says otherwise is a "cretin." 

His article, titled, "A transgender teen athlete’s life is not your cause" is filled with typical rhetoric from the hardcore-left-wing. He name-calls people who disagree and labels them as bad or evil people. This is what people do when they don't have logic or reason on their side. 

An Oregon columnist pens ridiculous article lauding a biological male beating girls at sports. 

Let's start with the title of the column, which is already misleading (get used to that theme). No one is talking about the transgender teen athlete's "life." I've not seen one thing written or posted about Aayden Gallagher that isn't specifically about Gallagher competing in girls' sports. 

This is not about what Gallagher does on a Wednesday night, unless that activity is running faster than girls. But Oram immediately creates his first strawman by making it seem like people care what this teenager does outside of sports. They don't. That's not the issue. 

Oregon transgender runner Aayden Gallagher heard boos from the crowd during and after competing in girls' events at the Oregon high school track & field championship. 

(Russ Walker/Getty Images)

Oram is angry at the parents in attendance who booed a boy beating their daughters in a race and blames them for stoking the the flames of the "culture wars." 

Here's the key paragraph in Oram's diatribe: 

You have opened the door for the most bad-faith actors in American discourse to exploit a high schooler, a child, for nothing more than a belt notch in the ongoing culture wars. 

You have empowered the likes of Clay Travis and Piers Morgan and other ghoulish avatars of the lunatic fringe to mine our high schools for clicks and to use them as the backdrop for their continued fear-mongering of the belief that boys have infiltrated girls sports and are winning every track race in the country, every swim meet and golf tournament and that they are grooming your sons to become women.

There's a lot to break down here, but let's start with a count of name-calling. We've got "bad-faith actors," "ghoulish avatars," and "lunatic fringe." In one paragraph, three instances of name-calling. Great start, Mr. Oram. 

Then, after using the logical fallacy of the ad hominem attack, Oram moves into a second logical fallacy, one of his favorites, the strawman. 

No one believes that boys "are winning every track meet in the country" or that anyone is "grooming [their] sons to become daughters." 

What people do believe is that some biological males are stealing athletic opportunities from females and that some adults are taking confused and vulnerable young people and pushing them toward a life of gender confusion for the benefit of the adult. 

Trans Golfer Hailey Davidson is likely to earn a spot in the U.S. Women's Open.

(Getty Images)

They are dehumanizing the real people involved, stripping the conversation of nuance, and turning it into a cause rather than an isolated situation that deserves compassion, thoughtfulness and calm.

Firstly, this is not a situation that requires much "nuance." Biological males do not belong in women's sports. Period. And, as far as "dehumanizing the real people" and "turning it into a cause," is that not what you're doing here, Mr. Oram? 

That's exactly what he's doing, and I'll explain how. What about all the young girls who are losing to this biological male and being forced to share a locker room with this athlete? Is that not "dehumanizing"? Don't these teenage girls deserve privacy and fair play? Stripping them of that feels pretty dehumanizing. 

I probably don't even need to explain how Oram is "turning it into a cause" because that's fairly obvious. He's pushing the idea that this one biological male's feelings and needs are more important than the hundreds of girls that the male has competed against, and beaten. Sounds awfully sexist, doesn't it? 

Take this young girl, for example, who was so frustrated with Gallagher's inclusion in girls' races that she finally spoke out. 

What about her, Mr. Oram? Does she deserve compassion and understanding? 

The boos that rained down at the end of the race echoed across the country, but especially on the internet, where the profiteers and alarm merchants eagerly pounced.

Nothing to see here, just more name-calling from the man who claims to have a lot of compassion in his heart. 

Trans athletes deserve a place to compete, too. We should provide opportunities for kids to participate first and let the adults deal with matters of policy and procedure second.

We all agree with Oram here. No one is calling for transgender athletes to be banned from competitions. They should compete against athletes that share their biological sex, or have their own category. 

And, yes, adults should "deal with matters of policy and procedure" but they're not doing it. That's why you have a biological male winning a girls' state championship and changing in a room with girls. But, see, even Oram says the quiet part out loud here. 

The "policy and procedure" is secondary to this transgender athlete. First and foremost, we must comply with this athlete's wishes. We'll figure out the feelings and needs of the girls involved later. What a message to send to young girls, huh? 

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas (a biological male, left) won a women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship in 2022. 

(Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

While it is grossly unfair to put the weight of this issue on her teenage shoulders, [Gallagher] certainly knew what awaited her when she crossed that finish line. With right-wing media eager to glom on to what they will say is another trans athlete stealing opportunities from girls, to stoke the division in a nation addicted to it, she ran and she ran fast.

"With right-wing media eager to glom on to what they will say is another trans athlete stealing opportunities from girls…" Let me fix this sentence for you, Mr. Oram. 

"Common sense media will correctly point out that several girls lost a chance to become a state champion or stand on a podium because a biological male took that spot in their place." 

Let me say this, too. I feel badly for Aayden Gallagher, I truly do. This is a young person who is clearly confused about their place in the world. This person is struggling with something that I certainly cannot comprehend. 

There is room – and a need – for compassion toward Aayden Gallagher. But it cannot come in the form of pushing aside the compassion we must have for the girls affected by the situation, either. 

I get if parents are mad. But we should remember that parents always want to see their kids do well and often look for excuses when they don’t. We’ve all heard rumors about the point guard who lives outside of school boundaries or laments about the Little League pitcher who looks like a high schooler.

And while those aren’t apples to apples comparisons, it’s also important to note that the McDaniel runner only narrowly won the 200 and finished second in her other event. I do not deny that boys and girls have biological differences, but to act like the event was reduced to a lopsided farce is also not accurate.

These two paragraphs are where Oram lost all credibility, if he had any left to this point. He points out two instances of cheating to prove his point. Does he even realize what he's saying here? He tries to cover it up by saying they aren't "apples to apples comparisons," but doesn't clarify which parts are fair to compare. 

I would say it's perfectly fair to compare a male competing in women's sports to a 14-year-old boy playing the Little League World Series (the age limit is 12 years old). 

The Rolando Paulino All-Stars Bronx Little League baseball team had to vacate all of its wins in the 2001 Little World Series when it was discovered that Danny Almonte (center) was actually 14 years old, two years older than the rules allowed.

(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Biologically, that 14-year-old is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than the 12-year-olds. Might there be a badass 12-year-old who can throw just as hard? Sure, there might be. Does that make it fair? Absolutely not. 

He's right – it's not an apples to apples comparison. If we found out there was a 16-year-old playing in the Little League World Series, we would kick that team out of the tournament. But when a biological male beats girls, we're supposed to applaud that as "brave." 

I value sports deeply and believe in the role of competition in the development of youth as much as anyone. But I can’t help but wonder if we are overvaluing the sanctity of competition at a cost of the sanctity of participation and inclusion.

Ah, there it is. Participation trophies should be more valuable than first-place trophies. Someone who claims to "value sports deeply" cannot possibly make this argument, yet Oram tries. 

That's what many of these arguments boil down to: a turn away from winners and losers (capitalism) and a turn toward everyone getting a piece of the pie, no matter how hard they work or don't work, or how much talent they have, or don't have (socialism/communism). 

Oram ends his column with this: 

I don’t know the answer. I just know that Piers Freakin’ Morgan and the cretins of the internet aren’t going to be the ones to give it to us.

He ends by stating the obvious, that he doesn't know the answer. Clearly, since he sees no issue with boys competing in girls' sports. 

If he can't figure out the solution to that simple problem, I can't imagine he has answers to difficult issues.