Oregon high school track & field coach claims he was fired for proposing ‘open division’ for transgender athletes: ‘Opportunity to participate’
An Oregon high school track and field coach claims he was fired after he challenged state officials’ policies on transgender athletes after he witnessed a trans athlete being “booed” during the state championship.
John Parks, the former coach at Lake Oswego High School, called for a change in the current state laws that he believes undermine the integrity of girls’ athletics by allowing transgender students to compete under the gender they identify as, according to KATU.
Parks wrote letters to the Executive Director of the Oregon Student Activities Association (OSAA), Peter Weber, and to state Sen. Rob Wagner, asking the state to consider encouraging an “open division” for transgender athletes that does not discriminate against them “but offers an opportunity to participate.”
His concerns arose while at the state championship in May, when the former coach observed a transgender athlete being “booed” after winning a girls’ event and felt the current policy may be doing more harm than good for students, Parks said.
The former coach says he had two transgender athletes on his track and field team during the spring season and only aired out his concerns after witnessing the backlash firsthand, he disclosed in an email to The Oregonian.
“I support them like all other athletes and only seek a solution that is a win for all as we don’t need any athletes subjected to what happened last month,” he said.
In his letters to state officials, he noted how a transgender student-athlete was favored to win the 200-meter and 400-meter dash and is on a trajectory to break the state records in both events.
Aayden Gallagher, of McDaniel High School, won the state title by two-tenths of a second and was booed while crossing the race’s finish line.
“Allowing this travesty to be carried out is making a complete mockery of the meet this weekend and in the future until the rules are altered to protect natural born females,” he wrote in the letter to the OSAA, according to the outlet.
Instead, he asked OSAA to consider creating a separate section for events like the state championship, which already has one for “para-athletes in wheelchair and Unified competition.”
“The solution to trans athletes is to have an open category like a gender neutral bathroom,” Parks wrote.
“Allows competition opportunities but doesn’t make a mockery of the reason females compete in their own category.”
Despite respectfully making his grievances clear in his letters, the Lake Oswego School District canned him.
The Director of Communications at Lake Oswego School District, Mary Kay Larson, confirmed to KATU that Parks was no longer working for the district but declined to go into detail on what grounds they found to terminate his employment.
Parks, who started working at the school in Jan. 2023, claimed the district removed his ability to express his opinion to state officials.
But Parks isn’t going down quietly and has decided to appeal his termination.
“I’m going to fight now because I got wronged,” the former coach said.
“I … am fighting for girls, I’m fighting for female sports, and I’m fighting that it be fair for everybody.”
Nevertheless, dozens of parents and student-athletes, upset over his termination, showed their support for the dismissed coach at a board meeting on Monday, according to KATU.
“I think that John wants the best for everybody,” Lake Oswego High School freshman Addie Rodriguez told the outlet.
“He wants the best for the transgender female athletes and wants the best for the rest of the female athletes, and I don’t think this had anything to do with being against transgender people.”
“It’s about making sure we have fair and safe opportunities for all of our female athletes, and that’s all that he asked for,” Lake Oswego parent Kristen Binkley said.
Parks had been a sprints coach at the professional and Olympic levels for 20 years before he began working at Lake Oswego High School, according to The Oregonian.
Oregon Student Activities Association 2016 policy permits students to participate in the category aligning with their “consistently asserted gender identity,” which is designed to promote inclusivity, according to the association’s handbook.
