School district bans trans athletes from girls' sports as state defies Trump, sparking loud pro-trans chants

Board member Jill Adams abstained but addressed Trump's executive order banning transgender females from participating in girls' and women's sports.

"A lot of us may disagree with the executive order, but us as school board members are caught between a rock and a hard place," said Adams. "I support different viewpoints, I support different ways of living but it's tough. I'm caught between, not a rock, but a boulder and a hard surface."

Washington is one of the many Democrat-run states that has allowed trans athletes to play after Trump's executive order, prompting national backlash after a widely publicized incident involving a trans athlete. 

According to the document, prior to the game Staudt asked the school's principal and athletic director whether the player was a biological male. The administrators then allegedly confirmed that they had been notified that the player was transgender, but denied her pleas to have the player removed.

Staudt removed herself from the game. Then, according to the document, a TSD employee allegedly confronted Staudt's younger brother for taking a video of the game, saying, "You better think twice about what you're doing right now."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the TSD for comment. 

"I've had threats at me. I've had people telling me I'm going to hell. I've had people saying, 'Good luck having any future after this' and saying, 'I know all the people who are reporting your account are happy to see your downfall, and know that it's going to be a real rough time for you in your future because of your decision to post this,'" Staudt said on the show. 

Rooks would have sat out if Staudt's concerns had been known. 

"I've never had an issue until this game, and my goal was never to make anybody uncomfortable in any way, and I didn't even realize Frances had an issue until I got yelled at at the game," Rooks said. "If she had had a conversation with me before the game, I would have sat out. My last thing I want to do is make anybody uncomfortable."

Washington's high school athletes are currently allowed to compete based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex. The WIAA policy states that each athlete will participate in programs "consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed," and there are not even any medical or legal requirements. Bills that would prohibit transgender girls from participating in girls and women's sports have been introduced but not passed.

"Our state laws make clear that children get to identify and participate based on the gender in which they identify. We're going to uphold that law."

Reykdal insisted that Trump does not have the authority as president to issue a ban on trans athletes in girls sports but conceded the U.S. Congress does. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act is a bill in Congress that would carry out similar requirements as Trump's order and has already passed in the House of Representatives. It has not gone to a vote in the Senate yet.  

"Until Congress changes the law or our state legislature changes the law, we're going to follow the current law and the current civil rights framework of this state, and that's what it tells us to do," Reykdal said. 

However, the issue became so concerning for residents, that in December the WIAA announced a proposal to create a separate open division for transgender athletes to compete in.