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Nothing was going to stop Alexa Anderson from getting off the medal podium that night of May 30. Not when a biological man would be up there too.
Anderson had just finished third at the girls’ high jump state championship, marking her final track performance at an Oregon high school after four intense years of competition and training. But he wouldn’t see the medal for all that hard work for several months, he says.
After she and her high jump podium partner Reese Eckhard, who finished fourth, walked off the podium to protest a trans athlete who finished fifth, Anderson alleged that she was forced out of the championship photo and was never given her third-place medal.
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The allegations are at the center of an ongoing lawsuit, which has already cleared a legal hurdle after a federal judge denied a motion by the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) to drop the charges from the lawsuit.
“I asked after the medal ceremony was over, we went into this sort of tunnel that takes you back to the audience, and I asked one of the officials, ‘Hey, are we going to get our medals?’ and she said they would send them to our school. And then they were never sent to our school,” Anderson told Pak Gazette Digital.
Months of death threats followed. Anderson claims that many critics even called his school, Tigard High School in Tigard, Oregon, lobbying for his expulsion, just before he graduated.
Witnessed a childhood hero’s attack on Simone Biles and “body shamer” Riley Gaines’ defense of trans athletes in women’s sports; precisely what they were now threatening her for opposing. She witnessed the murder of a budding idol in Charlie Kirk while speaking out about the trans community, all before getting her medal.
And she witnessed it all before receiving her medal, supposedly.
He had to take OSAA to court, suing for alleged medal withholding and First Amendment violations, before finally getting his hardware.
“I didn’t receive my medal until recently,” Anderson said, adding that the medals were sent directly to the law firm representing her in the legal battle, America First Policy Institute (AFPI).
The medals were then ceremoniously presented to her and Eckard at the Fox Nation Patriot Awards in early November, when the two received the Most Valuable Patriot award.
OREGON ATHLETES WIN ‘MOST VALUABLE PATRIOT’ AWARD AFTER REFUSING TO SHARE THE PODIUM WITH A TRANS COMPETITOR
Reese Eckard and Alexa Anderson accept the Most Valuable Patriot Award from Will Cain and Martha MacCallum onstage during the 2025 Fox Nation Patriot Awards at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Greenvale, New York, on November 6, 2025. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
After all that waiting, Anderson now chooses to leave the medal at his parents’ house in Oregon as he warms up for his freshman season at the University of South Alabama.
“It’s definitely frustrating that we haven’t gotten them right now… but that’s the way it is right now. There are more important things we’re fighting for,” he said. “Of course I wanted that medal, I worked really hard to get to that place where I was on the podium… but also a part of me knew that it was part of the sacrifice I was making when I stepped off that podium, and that there would be consequences.”
The consequences started immediately, but grew harsher over time.
There were consequences already in the moments after his removal from the podium on May 30.
“There were people who just attacked us and said, ‘You guys are bullies, you guys are horrible people.'”
Anderson previously told Pak Gazette Digital in June that most of the online reception he received following the incident was positive. But that changed as her story spread in the weeks and months that followed.
She began to learn what life was really like at the center of the culture war to “Save Women’s Sports.”
“There were people calling my school asking me to be expelled and not be allowed to walk at graduation,” Anderson alleged. “I had people messaging me personally, saying horrible things, including death threats.
“‘I hope you die,'” one message reads, he alleges, with another reading: “‘Your parents are definitely ashamed of you…’
“It definitely hurt.”
But it was never painful enough to force her to resign.
Anderson said none of the harassment was enough to make him fear taking things further with a lawsuit.
“Part of me expected this and knew that’s exactly what happens when you stand up for what you believe in,” he said.
OREGON GIRLS WHO PROTESTED TRANS ATHLETE ON TRACK AND FIELD MEDAL PODIUM GET LEGAL WIN IN LAWSUIT
Oregon women’s track and field athletes Reese Eckard and Alexa Anderson do not stand on a medal podium alongside a trans opponent. (Courtesy of America First Policy Institute)
And now the lawsuit between her and Eckard is moving forward.
U.S. District Court Judge Youlee Yim You denied OSAA’s motion to dismiss a portion of the lawsuit that highlighted what forms of political speech the league allows, including Black Lives Matter and pro-LGBTQ pride messages, which was a key point in the plaintiffs’ argument.
Anderson said she regularly witnessed protests at events by other athletes throughout her four-year high school career, without ever being punished.
“I’ve seen a lot of speeches about support and rights for the LGBTQ community, the trans community, a lot of things from the Black Lives Matter movement… wearing t-shirts, flags, that kind of thing,” he said. “I think it’s really harmful to students to allow them to express only certain points of view that you agree with.”
Even so, he never saw anyone step down from a podium in protest. That’s his signature.
As Anderson and Eckard move forward with their lawsuit, their goal is to provide First Amendment protections to all students in the state, regardless of their beliefs.
Her attorney at AFPI, Leigh’Ann O’Neill, told Pak Gazette Digital what it would take to resolve the lawsuit.
“The OSAA needs to take a very affirmative stance and demonstrate that they will respect all viewpoints of their athletes and participants in their other extracurricular activities in Oregon,” O’Neill said. “When will we see Oregon step up and make it clear to their athletes that it’s okay for them to disagree with us?
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“Nominal damages are requested as part of the lawsuit, which is kind of a technicality, and is really about ensuring that your freedom of speech is protected.”
Pak Gazette Digital has reached out to OSAA and Tigard High School for comment.
