Garcia cheered and clapped for her competitors as they received their medals. When the announcer called her to the podium, the crowd fell silent and the other high school runners at the podium did not acknowledge her as they stood with hands clasped behind their backs.

As she accepted her gold medal, a voice in the crowd could be heard yelling, “She’s not a girl!

Garcia expected the chilly reaction from the crowd, though she was “somewhat hurt” her peers did not offer congratulations.

“I guess maybe I expected sportsmanship because I was cheering the rest of them on when they were called. So I guess I expected to get that reciprocated,” she said. “But I didn’t get that.”

Garcia told reporters, “I’m just a teenager. I wish people would remember that.”

For almost two decades, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has had a policy allowing students to compete in sports based on the gender they “most consistently expressed.”

The handbook reads: “All students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.”

This development comes amid a national debate over trans-identified males participating in women’s sports. Several states have passed legislation barring biological males from competing with females. WIAA spokesperson Sean Bessette explained that the organization “considers numerous personal, political, and religious beliefs of communities that join the Association” and noted that “Many of these beliefs do not align, resulting in a conflict among the diverse groups the Association serves. For this reason, the WIAA Executive Board has been advised to follow state and federal law.”

Beth Daranciang, a Republican running for the state House, has argued against allowing men to compete with women. “It just seems very unfair,” she said about Garcia’s participation in the event. “Sports are based on physical competition. It’s not based on identity. So that’s why we should keep sports based on the physical distinctions between males and females.”

Of course, she is right.

Garcia might feel hurt by the reactions he is receiving. But that’s how people feel about cheaters: They boo them. Regardless of how the athlete feels about his gender, he has a distinct physical advantage over the females with whom he is competing, which means he is cheating.

His participation in these events is not only unfair, it also robs female athletes of opportunities to excel in their chosen sport because they are being forced to face off against someone who has biological advantages. What is truly sad is that the people around Garcia have obviously affirmed the illusion that he is a girl trapped in a boy’s body, which isn’t exactly doing him any favors. Those who have gone along with the lie have helped to place him in a position in which he is earning the ire of the community.

Unfortunately, those on the progressive left who couldn’t care less about the mental health of kids suffering from gender dysphoria are only going to continue encouraging this behavior in Garcia and other children. They would likely refer to him as “brave” for daring to compete against physically weaker women. Meanwhile, the females he continues to defeat will be left wishing they could actually compete in fair sporting events.