Washington voters are filling out ballots right now on Initiative 638, a measure that would ban trans girls from girls’ school sports. Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3 or placed in an official drop box by 8 p.m. that day.
If it passes, every student who wants to participate in K-12 interscholastic girls’ sports would need a statement from a health care provider confirming her “biological sex.” That’s not just trans girls. KIRO 7 estimated it could affect about 118,000 girls in high school sports each year, based on state athletic association participation numbers.
State officials estimate there are only 5 to 10 trans student athletes in Washington, according to the Seattle Times. Students don’t have to disclose, so the real number could be higher.
What a Yes Vote on I-638 Would Do
The measure would require schools to adopt policies barring students it defines as “biologically male” from competing against girls in sports “intended for female students only.” That covers both individual and team events.
Under section 3 of the initiative, students joining girls’ teams would need a provider-signed statement as part of the sports physical. Verification would rely on one or more of three things: reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup or naturally produced testosterone. The text does not require all three methods or explicitly mandate a genital examination for every athlete. Schools would still have to work out how to apply the requirement.
Amy Sousa, who backs the measure, told KIRO 7 that doctors already know their patients’ sex and argued that no additional testing would be needed. Kelsey Gellner, a parent who opposes it, sees it differently. “All the governing bodies on this topic say that we should be limiting our genital exams for our girls,” she said.
Brian Heywood’s Let’s Go Washington vs. No Hate in WA
The money and the signatures came from Let’s Go Washington, a conservative committee funded by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood. The Secretary of State recorded more than 444,000 signatures for the measure. Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature, and they let the session end in March without a hearing, so the measure went to voters. Heywood’s group also put I-001, a parents’ rights measure, on this ballot.
“One of the goals of an initiative is to wake the public up,” Michelle Valdez, a Gig Harbor Republican who supports it, told the Seattle Times. Moms for Liberty Washington and the Washington State Catholic Conference are on her side.
The opposition campaign, No Hate in WA, counts the state teachers union, nurses association and PTA among its endorsers. Rep. My-Linh Thai, a Bellevue Democrat, put it this way to the Seattle Times: “This policy was not from the kids.” Logan Casey of the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ+ laws, told the Seattle Times that I-638 was part of “a much longer and coordinated campaign” against trans people.
The American Academy of Pediatrics got pulled in too. It asked Let’s Go Washington in August to take the AAP’s name out of the group’s statement in the state voters’ pamphlet, saying it hadn’t given permission. Let’s Go Washington wouldn’t. KIRO 7, citing Ballotpedia, put fundraising for both sides at nearly $10 million.
Let’s Go Washington’s Unreleased I-638 Poll
Is it going to pass? Hard to say. Let’s Go Washington claims 56% support, including 48% of Democrats, from a 7,500-person survey it ran in August, KUOW reported. The full poll has not been released publicly. KUOW also reported on separate, unpublished polling by the Northwest Progressive Institute. “People are with us, and they don’t wanna say it out loud,” spokesperson Hallie Herzberg told KUOW. State Democratic Party spokesperson Stephen Reed pushed back: “This is not a slam dunk like some folks think it might be.”
House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, a Tacoma Democrat, pointed to the state’s record. “This state has consistently rejected every anti-LGBTQ initiative that’s come before it,” she told the Seattle Times. In 2012, Washington voters approved Referendum 74 and kept marriage equality.
Why Washington’s Vote Matters Outside the State
Washington is one of four states voting on school sports and sex this year, along with Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska. More than half the states have already passed bans through their legislatures, starting with Idaho in 2020, but none has passed one by a statewide vote.
With all four votes landing the same day, Nov. 3 will be the first time voters themselves decide the question. The Seattle Times noted Washington could be the first state to approve such a ban, or the first to turn one down. Andrew Villeneuve of the Northwest Progressive Institute told the Seattle Times he expects a court challenge under the state constitution if it passes.
Still not registered? Washington lets you do it in person at your county elections office until 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. Drop boxes are listed on the Secretary of State’s site.
