Key facts
- Initiative 638 passed with nearly 57% support as of Thursday morning, with votes still being counted.
- The measure requires students to submit healthcare provider statements verifying their biological sex to join girls' athletics.
- Opponents warn the measure could force tens of thousands of Washington girls to undergo invasive genital exams to play sports.
- The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association said it was aware of only about 10 trans middle and high school sports players statewide.
- The initiative was introduced in 2025 by the political action committee Let's Go Washington, founded by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood.
- The measure is due to go into effect in December and could face legal challenges.
Voters in Washington state passed Initiative 638, a ballot measure banning transgender girls from playing on girls' sports teams, with nearly 57% support as of Thursday morning, though votes were still being counted. The measure requires students in elementary, middle and high school who want to join girls' athletics to first submit statements from their healthcare providers verifying their biological sex.
Opponents have raised alarms that the measure may force girls to endure invasive and extreme genital exams to participate in school sports. The initiative was considered the most restrictive of the four trans youth sports bans on state ballots this year, as it mandates that girls prove their sex through hormone or genetic tests, or genital examinations. The measure only applies to women's sports, and boys are not required to undergo any similar procedures.
More than 25 states across the US have adopted similar bans on trans youth athletes, mostly through legislation pushed by Republican lawmakers. Voters in Arizona and Nebraska approved similar ballot measures this week, and a ban proposed in Colorado was leading in early results, but that race has not yet been called.
Prohibiting trans youth from sports has become a priority of conservatives and anti-LGBTQ+ groups who argue they are protecting fairness in women's athletics. Civil rights advocates say the policies are discriminatory and unnecessary, noting that trans youth have long played sports and that the restrictions target a small group of students already facing extreme prejudice and exclusion.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association said earlier this year that it was aware of only about 10 trans middle and high school sports players, a tiny fraction of the more than 200,000 students competing statewide. The state has for nearly two decades allowed trans students to play on teams that match their gender identity.
More than 140 healthcare providers issued a statement opposing Washington's measure. Kelsey Gellner, a Seattle-based pediatric nurse, said last month: "I tell my kids and patients that my No 1 job is to keep them safe. I can say with confidence that girls do not want to have an unnecessary exam that creates an unsafe barrier." Libby Loft, a family physician in Spokane, said: "I have to examine someone's reproductive anatomy – that seems inappropriate to me for a sports physical." Loft said sex-verification requirements created additional barriers for girls to participate in athletics, noting they were already twice as likely as boys to drop out of sports by age 14.