Rather than wrestle a girl in the state championship, this high schooler forfeited

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

To Brendan Johnston, it was a simple choice. The 18-year-old senior wrestler from The Classical Academy in Colorado had never competed against a girl, and faced with the option to do so and potentially move one round closer to his goal of winning a state wrestling title, he instead decided to forfeit.

For one of the two would-be female opponents Johnston refused to face in the Colorado State Wrestling Championships last weekend, it was a frustrating outcome. She said she understood and respected his decision, but questioned why any wrestler, of any gender, would decide to forfeit in a state tournament after making it so far. Johnston cited personal and religious beliefs for not wanting to wrestle a girl.

“My whole thing is that I’m not a girl wrestler, I’m just a wrestler,” said Jaslynn Gallegos, a senior at Skyview High School. “So it kind of doesn’t hurt my feelings, but I do kind of take it to heart.”

...snip...

“There is something that I really do find problematic about the idea of wrestling with a girl, and a part of that does come from my faith and my belief,” said Johnston, who is Christian. “And a part of that does come from how I was raised to treat women as well as maybe from different experiences and things.”