Transgender athlete Verónica Garcia has spoken out again after being booed for winning another 400-meter race at a girls’ state track championship in Washington.
The 17-year-old, who last year became the first trans athlete to place first in the State 2A girls 400-meter run at the track and field championships in Tacoma, won the 400m by nearly a second (55.70) at the championships on Saturday (31 May).
Upon taking to the first-place podium, Verónica Garcia’s feat was, once again, met with boos and jeers.
Man pretending to be a woman, Veronica Garcia, gets booed as he takes the first place podium in Washington state on Saturday.
He cheated against girls because he hates them.
Washington needs to be defunded right now.
Make it happen @realDonaldTrump.pic.twitter.com/Uwe2pdRvgv
— Paul A. Szypula
(@Bubblebathgirl) May 31, 2025
The teen told Seattle Times that she was caught off guard by the jeers, but added that they also gave her energy to continue racing.
She said: “But it maybe didn’t have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I’m going to push.
“I’m going to put this in the most PG-13 way, I’m just going to say it’s a damn shame they don’t have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people.”
“I’m really proud of myself,” Garcia added. “I did what I came to do, and that’s good enough for me.”
Second-place finisher Lauren Matthew was pictured on the podium holding a sign claiming she was the “real” champion.
Athletes from a rival school, which Garcia also participated in, attended the 4x400m relay event wearing intimidating black T-shirts that read “Keep Women’s Sports Female”.
‘Not fair and totally demeaning to women and girls”, Trump previously said of a trans athlete
Transgender athletes’ participation in sport continues to be a contentious topic with right-wing figureheads such as Riley Gaines and Caitlyn Jenner advocating against their inclusion.
The Trump administration is further contributing to the right-wing war against transgender athletes’ participation in sport. In February Trump signed a directive, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, that declared it was the “policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity and truth”.
Trump has also threatened to cut funding from schools if states refuse to comply with his executive order.
In May, Trump issued a scathing attack on 16-year-old trans high school junior AB Hernandez, who was set to compete in the girls’ varsity triple jump, high jump and long jump in the state finals. The president described her participation as “not fair and totally demeaning to women and girls”.
On Saturday (31 May), Hernandez claimed gold in the high jump and triple jump at the California state girls’ track-and-field championships.
In response to the similar influx of hate she received last year, Verónica Garcia previously told The Spokesman-Review: “At the very least, give us respect, because I think the best thing anyone can do is, even if you don’t understand why we’re transgender, the very least is to be nice to us. Kindness goes a long way.”
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