Washington Ban on Trans Athletes Will Be On the Ballot in November

Democrats are firmly in control of the state of Washington which makes is nearly impossible for conservative efforts to gain any ground. But the state does have a ballot initiative process which has been used several times to place issues of interest to conservatives on the ballot. Yesterday, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (he’s a Democrat) announced that a ban on trans athletes in K-12 schools had enough verified signatures to appear on the ballot this November.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office announced Thursday that it has certified the signatures submitted in support of Initiative IL26-638, setting up the measure to qualify for the November ballot if legislators do not take action on it.

If approved by voters, the initiative would prohibit transgender girls — or anyone assigned male at birth — in Washington from participating with cisgender girls in athletic programs at K-12 schools. The initiative would further require girls who wish to play on these teams to submit documentation of their assigned sex at birth as part of a physical exam.

The initiative received 445,187 signatures, according to Let’s Go Washington, the conservative political committee that sponsored the measure.

I’m not really familiar with the process in Washington state but from what I’m reading about it, once an initiative gathers enough signatures it goes directly to the legislature where leaders can decide to take it up and pass it. However, in cases where the legislature does not act, the initiative instead goes directly to the ballot during the next election. In this case, the Democrats running the legislature announced a couple weeks ago that they would not be taking up this initiative or doing anything at all with it.

Washington’s top Democratic lawmakers announced Friday they will not hold legislative hearings on two conservative-backed initiatives focused on parental rights in public schools and transgender athletes in girls’ sports.

Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen and House Speaker Laurie Jinkins shared their position during the Legislature’s 2026 Preview Day, saying the measures, if certified, will go directly before voters on the November midterm ballot…

While state law does not require lawmakers to hold hearings on citizen initiatives, the move sidesteps a common legislative forum that typically allows for public testimony, debate and potential amendments.

“This is a clear sign that they don’t care about the abuses to children, families, and female athletes taking place in the state,” Let’s Go Washington founder Brian Heywood said in a statement, calling on Pedersen and Jinkins to reconsider their decision.

Instead of having hearings about it, the Democrats are using scare tactics about genital exams.

“It will be a very stark decision for voters in the state, whether or not they want to subject every girl who’s over 12 years old in the state who wants to participate in sports to an invasive genital examination in return for making sure that transgender girls do not participate,” Jinkins said Friday.

The initiative’s language does not directly reference “genital examinations” but it would require documentation of a student’s sex assigned at birth as part of a physical exam.

Any child who competes in sanctioned sports in Middle School or High School in any US state is already required to get a sports physical in which a doctor verifies they are healthy enough to compete. Having the same doctor verify the student’s sex doesn’t seem like a big addition to that requirement and shouldn’t require anything more invasive than looking at the student’s birth certificate.

Democrats want to pretend that doctors might struggle to identify the sex of a patient absent some intrusive exam but it’s not true. Even if some alternative documentation was needed it wouldn’t be more intrusive than a regular physical. Parents could also opt for a genetic test which would cost a few hundred dollars. But again, that’s not needed if the child has a birth certificate.

Let’s Go Washington, the group behind this initiative is optimistic about its passage.

Let’s Go Washington founder Brian Heywood said he is confident voters would approve the measure if it reaches the ballot.

He added, “Suggesting that biological boys should be allowed in girls sports, I think in 10 years, we’re going look back and go, ‘What in the world was going on here?’”

At the moment, 27 states ban trans athletes from competing based on their chosen gender rather than their sex. Those bans are likely to be upheld by the Supreme Court this summer.

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