‘I just want more people to run’: Portland Marathon includes non-binary athletes thanks to local runner

Sometime in early September, the Portland Marathon quietly updated its online registration page with a third gender division: Non-Binary or Prefer Not To Disclose.

The popular race that typically draws 6,000 participants became only one of a handful of top qualifying marathons to make the change.

But it didn’t come easily.

Most runners probably wouldn’t have noticed the change to the form when it finally happened, but it made a difference to 34-year-old Nick Pham.

Pham this summer pushed marathon organizers to recognize non-binary runners. Until Pham pressed, the Portland Marathon, like many races, required its runners to select one of only two genders: male or female.

When Pham lines up at the marathon Oct. 3 — the first time they’ve ever run in the race — it will be as a trailblazer.

“I’m so excited to represent myself, and I’m excited about what that might mean for the future of other non-binary, gender non-conforming people,” Pham told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I just want more people to run.”

Pham grew up watching the Portland Marathon with their family. Together, they would drive up from Tigard to stand at Waterfront Park and cheer for runners crossing the finish line downtown. As an adult, Pham worked in restaurants and served brunch to famished runners and their proud families.

So when Pham saw an Instagram post in June by the Portland Marathon announcing the race’s return after a yearlong hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, they eagerly clicked on the link to register. Almost immediately, Pham ran into an obstacle.

They are transgender and non-binary and one of over 4,000 Oregonians to have “X” as their legal gender marker. To register, Pham was required to pick a gender to complete the registration but saw no option describing them.

Pham closed the form in disappointment. The feeling stuck with them for weeks, said Pham, now a legal assistant at Tonkon Torp LLP, a business law firm in Portland.

“I just felt excluded and I decided not to move forward with it at first,” Pham said.

But Pham left a comment on the Portland Marathon’s Instagram page pointing out the lack of options for non-binary runners, hoping it would prompt organizers to update their system. The comment received three “likes,” all from people Pham didn’t recognize.

“It made me realize maybe I’m not the only one,” Pham said. “It’s my choice if I decide I don’t want to run because they don’t have my gender on there, but what if there’s other people that want to?”

‘They gave me no specifics’

Pham sent an email June 22 to Portland Marathon organizers asking what accommodations could be made for non-binary participants seeking to register for the race.

Two days later, Pham received a response.

According to the email reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive, marathon organizers said they were working on a solution but it wouldn’t start this year. They also said they were waiting on guidance from USA Track and Field which sanctions the race.

The sport’s governing association allows runners to use their race times from the Portland Marathon to qualify for other sanctioned races, such as the Boston Marathon. In 2015, the organization updated its policy regarding transgender runners, encouraging race directors to accept people’s entries at “face value” unless they become eligible for awards or prize money.

Pham, an amateur runner who ran their first half-marathon virtually last year, wasn’t interested in winning any awards. They emailed back June 25, pointing out the track association’s recommendation and requesting that Portland Marathon follow it. While the policy applies to transgender men and women, it doesn’t mention people who are non-binary.

Several days later, Pham received another response from the Portland Marathon — this one more disappointing than the last, they said.

It said the registration software used by the marathon was developed in-house and would require “significant time in programming, testing, and deploying” to make a third gender division available. The email said there was a plan “in the works” but repeated that nothing would immediately change.

“They gave me no specifics and didn’t apologize for it,” Pham said. “I felt like they were saying, ‘We acknowledge that we’re discriminating against you, but we’re not making a plan to do anything different.’”

When Pham replied to the Portland Marathon’s email later that day, they pointed out that Oregon had recognized “X” as a gender marker since 2017 and called the race’s exclusion of non-binary runners both “unacceptable and a violation of equal rights.”

“Your excuse that technology continues to prohibit a permanent solution, and your inability to quote a deadline for when this will be accomplished, indicates your approval of this outright discrimination,” Pham wrote. “You can issue me a hand written bib for all I care.”

‘No runner should face this experiance again’

The next day, the Portland Marathon told Pham that’s what the race would do — provide a hand-written bib. Pham registered and paid for an entry via email. Under those conditions, however, Pham could run along the course but wouldn’t be listed in the results because they weren’t on the official list of race participants and their run wouldn’t be timed.

This solution didn’t sit well with Pham. They worried other non-binary runners, not aware of Pham’s push, would decide not to register still given only male or female choices online.

Pham’s colleague, an attorney, contacted Oregon Health and Science University, then a sponsor of the race, on their behalf. (OHSU recently dropped out as a race sponsor, saying its staff needed to focus on the current influx of COVID-19 patients.)

On June 30, a representative of OHSU contacted Brooksee, the Utah-based race producer that organizes the Portland Marathon.

“We immediately communicated our concern to Brooksee, which took our concern very seriously, expressed their commitment to equity and quickly notified us that the participant would be allowed to register as a non-binary runner,” said OHSU spokesperson Erik Robinson. “Running in the Portland Marathon should be a welcoming experience for all, and no runner should face this experience again.”

Two months passed and Pham waited for news from the Portland Marathon. Then early this month, they received an email confirming their official registration for the race.

Pham felt a mix of relief, excitement and lingering disappointment.

“They were saying it was going to be too hard and they weren’t going to be able to do it this year, but 70 days later they were able to make it happen. So clearly it was possible,” Pham said.

In a statement sent to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Brooksee CEO Jared Rohatinsky called the marathon’s former registration policy “painfully antiquated” and pledged the race’s commitment to being more inclusive and equitable.

“We deeply regret the length of time it took to remedy this issue as well as the inequitable circumstances it created in the past,” the statement said. Rohatinsky didn’t respond to specific questions sent by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The Portland Marathon, first run in 1972, has had a rocky few years. In 2018, the event was nearly canceled after state investigators found that previous organizers “illegally borrowed” $865,000 from their own nonprofit. The race’s former organizers eventually reached a settlement with the state and agreed to repay the money. Portland selected Brooksee to be the race’s new organizer in January 2019.

‘We deserve a place on a starting line’

Pham’s experience registering for the Portland Marathon reflects the growing pains sports are experiencing as they tackle how to include transgender and non-binary athletes, said Nancy Haque, director of Basic Rights Oregon.

“Sports is a place of discrimination for the trans community and it starts when kids are really little,” Haque said. “The world is changing, so people have to figure out how they can change their systems to accommodate non-binary Oregonians.”

Haque said there are likely thousands more people who haven’t changed their official gender marker to “X” in Oregon but identify as non-binary.

When transgender and non-binary people are turned away from participating in events like the Portland Marathon, the negative impact on them can be long-lasting, Haque said.

“It feels like there’s not a place for them,” Haque said. “It’s important that we expand all of our systems — whether it’s about sports or human services, social services, job applications, doctor forms — that every place where people go where they require you to choose a gender, that there is a non-binary option.”

For elite runner Nikki Hiltz, the sport does seem to be changing — albeit slowly. The 26-year-old professional mid-distance runner came out as non-binary on March 31, International Trans Day of Visibility, and has been able to register for several races under a third gender category.

But announcers still sometimes misgender Hiltz as they cross the finish line or race organizers place an “F” for “female” next to their name in race results.

“I feel kind of lonely in it, because I’m the only out (non-binary) professional runner right now and navigating a binary world as a non-binary person is tough,” Hiltz told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I feel like I just keep showing up as myself but it’s hard because there’s not a lot of representation in this space yet.”

But people like Pham are making a difference, Hiltz said.

“Every time there’s more representation, it’s easier for people to show up as themselves, and for runners especially, you’re going to feel safe if you feel like you belong,” Hiltz said. “We’re here and we exist and we deserve a place on a starting line just like everyone else.”