Key facts
- The suit argues Initiative 638 violates Washington's constitution on privacy and equal rights grounds and breaches an anti-discrimination law protecting transgender people.
- The measure requires girls to provide medical documentation of sex, including hormone or genetic tests or examinations of reproductive anatomy, and does not apply to boys.
- School officials said earlier in 2026 they knew of about 10 transgender sports players statewide, out of roughly 200,000 student athletes.
- Tiffani Lennon, executive director of Legal Voice, said Washington has allowed transgender youth to play on teams matching their gender for 20 years.
- Proponents, including funder Brian Heywood, a hedge fund manager, argue the ban protects fairness in girls' sports.
- The ban is due to take effect on December 3, 2026.
Parents of student athletes in Washington state sued in state court on November 9, 2026, to block Initiative 638, a ballot measure banning transgender girls from girls' sports teams. The plaintiffs include parents of transgender and cisgender girls, the advocacy group TransFamilies and the Washington Education Association, the teachers' union. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, Legal Voice and Pacifica Law Group.
Voters passed Initiative 638 in the November 2026 midterm elections. Nebraska, Colorado and Arizona adopted similar bans, though advocates say Washington's policy is particularly extreme because of its medical sex verification requirement for all girls who want to play team sports. The measure requires girls to provide documentation from medical providers about their sex, through hormone or genetic tests or examinations of their reproductive anatomy, and does not apply to boys.
The suit argues the measure violates Washington's constitution by infringing on students' privacy and equal rights protections, since it applies only to girls, and violates an anti-discrimination law that protects transgender people. Doctors, teachers and parents have raised concerns that the enforcement mechanism could force girls to undergo genital exams and would discourage girls from joining sports. Proponents argue the ban protects fairness in girls' sports; the campaign was funded by Brian Heywood, a hedge fund manager.
The law applies to elementary, middle and high school students. School officials said earlier in 2026 that they were aware of only about 10 transgender sports players statewide, a small fraction of the state's 200,000 student athletes.
Tiffani Lennon, executive director of Legal Voice, said Washington has for 20 years allowed transgender youth to play on teams that match their gender. "This is a fabricated issue being manufactured to create alarm," she said. "They're intending to send a message to trans youth that we don't want you visible, and they are willing to put in place really extreme measures to ensure that it terrifies enough people to go run and hide." She added: "If you really want fairness in sports, why would you subject girls to sex verification? Why would you dissuade girls from participating in sports? It's clearly discriminatory."
The plaintiffs include a parent of a 17-year-old transgender girl who plays team sports at her high school and fears being outed and removed from athletics under the measure. Parents of two cisgender female athletes also joined, saying they oppose the sex verification requirements. On November 9, 2026, the Seattle public schools board of directors voted to allow the district to take legal action against the ban, which is due to take effect on December 3, 2026.