A female cross country runner at a California high school appealed to the school board this week amid ongoing controversy surrounding a trans athlete on her team.

A transgender runner at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, Calif., was placed on the school’s team, unseating a girl, despite reportedly failing to consistently attend practices or meet key varsity eligibility requirements.

In response, her teammates wore T-shirts with the slogan “Save Girls Sports,” which was likened to a swastika by school officials, according to Fox News.

Athletic department officials allegedly forced the girls to remove the T-shirts, claiming they created a “hostile” environment and likening them to wearing German Nazi Party insignia in front of Jewish students.

Now, Kylie Morrow, a 16-year-old student on the cross country team, has addressed the controversy at a Riverside Unified School District board meeting.

On Thursday, Morrow criticized her school and the notion that trans athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, opening up about how the situation has affected her and her teammates.

Kylie Morrow, a 16-year-old student, issued an impassioned plea to the school board this week amid ongoing controversy surrounding a trans athlete on her team

“I’m constantly affected by the actions that have taken place this season, and I’ve been around the women, and just my team in general, who have felt almost silenced to speak out about it, because the whole LGBTQ thing is being pushed down in our throats! ‘ Morrow said.

“We live in a society where it’s almost impossible to speak out about it without facing repercussions.”

Morrow also revealed that she had personally contacted the school’s athletic director to defend her teammates over the comparisons of their T-shirt protests to swastikas.

“It feels like my school and the school district are choosing to support one person instead of the whole team,” Morrow said.

“To see the athletic director turn around and tell my teammates that their ‘Save Girls Sports’ jerseys are being compared to a swastika, that’s not okay. These girls feel silenced, they felt silenced and when they finally did something to say against it . they were completely stabbed in the back.’

Morrow added that she felt “unsafe” in a situation where she was forced to share a dressing room with a biological male who wore “panty shorts”.

“It’s not okay that I have to be in that position, and I have to see a male in pants shorts, and to have to see that around me, as a 16-year-old girl, I don’t see that as a safe environment,” Morrow said.

“Going into a changing room and seeing men in there, I don’t think it’s safe, I don’t find going to the bathroom when there are guys in there. It’s not okay. I’m a 16-year-old girl!’

Runners at Martin Luther King High School wore T-shirts with the slogan “Save Girls Sports,” which was likened to a swastika by school officials

Martin Luther King High School athletic department officials allegedly forced the girls to remove the t-shirts, claiming they created a “hostile” environment

Several colleges have refused to play women’s volleyball against San Jose State’s trans players

Two of Morrow’s teammates, identified as Kaitlyn and Taylor, filed a lawsuit against Martin Luther King High School following the school’s alleged complaints about their t-shirts.

‘My first reaction was like I was really surprised, because it was like ‘Why is this happening to me?’ Taylor told Fox News. “There’s a transgender person on the team. Why am I being ostracized when ‘I’ve worked so hard and gone to all the practices, and this student has only attended a few practices.’

Meanwhile, both girls were shocked by the school’s comparisons of their swastika t-shirts.

“It was definitely hard to hear because we’re not in any way trying to be hateful,” Kaitlyn said. “We’re just wearing a shirt that expresses what we believe in trying to raise awareness of a situation.”

The controversy surrounding trans participation in women’s sports involved another California high school earlier this week.

Stone Ridge Christian, a high school in central California, made headlines when it forfeited an upcoming girls volleyball playoff game in protest of a transgender player against the San Francisco Waldorf this week.

The forfeiture also comes amid the ongoing controversy surrounding San Jose State’s women’s team, which has seen a string of opponents forfeit games to protest the Spartans’ Blaire Fleming, a star player who is reportedly transgender.