‘An open division … doesn’t identify or discriminate but offers an opportunity to participate’
An Oregon high school track coach who allegedly was terminated for proposing a separate competition division for transgender athletes is now suing the school district.
Riley Gaines noted on X that Coach John Parks has taken Lake Oswego High School to the state championship for three consecutive years.
Parks (pictured) says he was fired after sending a letter regarding Oregon state law which allows transgender athletes to compete on teams “that align with their gender identity,” according to KATU.
“The [Oregon Student Activities Association] competition rules need to be aligned with what the rest of the world competes under,” Parks wrote to OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber. “My proposal to encourage transgender participation is to offer an open division that is so named so it doesn’t identify or discriminate but offers an opportunity to participate.”
Parks said he “supports transgender athletes and does not want them to be excluded,” adding he doesn’t want transgender females athletes “booed” when competing in (biological) girls events.
The Lake Oswego Review reports that in Parks’ July 24 lawsuit he specifically noted “OSAA’s current policies on transgender athletes— particularly those that relate to athletes born as biological males who are allowed to compete as females —were flawed and posed a threat to the ongoing existence and integrity of female athletics.”
MORE: ‘Crying out for justice’: Female athletes sue NCAA over ‘dangerous’ transgender policies
Parks was fired following a complaint from Portland Public Schools Athletic Director Marshall Haskins (pictured), who alleged the track coach “had contacted students, families and other coaches” about the current transgender policy.
Haskins also claimed Parks sent an email to the OSAA to “specifically stop a specific student-athlete from competing at the state track meet.”
Parks ended up being charged with violating Lake Oswego’s policies regarding nondiscrimination, “hazing, harassment, intimidation, bullying, menacing, cyberbullying, teen dating violence or domestic violence.”
Parks denies Haskins’ allegations.
Parks’ lawsuit, filed by the Liberty Justice Center, claims the Lake Oswego School District and Lake Oswego School Board violated the coach’s First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights, the latter due to “conduct[ing] an unlawful retaliatory investigation and subsequent firing.”
The Liberty Justice Center notes the World Athletics Council ruled in March 2023 that “transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty may not participate in women’s international events,” and in August of that year World Aquatics established an “open division” in which “all sex and gender identities” could compete.
Parks said he has been “a voice for equitable and inclusive treatment for students with a wide variety of gender and sexual identities, on the track and in the classroom.”
LJC Senior Counsel Buck Dougherty said “Coach Parks was retaliated against, falsely accused of discriminatory behavior, denied an appeal, and fired—just for exercising his constitutional right to free speech as a private citizen.”
MORE: U. Chicago survey: Two-thirds of U.S. adults oppose transgender females in women’s sports
IMAGES: KATU/X; Portland Public Schools
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