The ACLU is suing to block the ban on transgender athletes in girls’ sports Washington voters approved in the November election, the legal organization announced Tuesday.
“Washington has long had strong protections against discrimination. We will fight to stop this law from taking effect and prevent this needless attack on youth in our state,” Adrien Leavitt, staff attorney for the ACLU of Washington, said in a statement published on the ACLU’s website.
The civil rights organization and Legal Voice will represent the Washington-based nonprofit TransFamilies and the parents of students who play girls’ sports in public schools.
Pacifica Law Group represents the statewide educators union, the Washington Education Association.
Initiative 638, which about 56% of voters approved in the November election based on unofficial returns, would go into effect Dec. 3. Wording in the measure requires all girls — both cisgender and transgender — to undergo medical testing to confirm their sex before they play on a girls team.
Of more than 200,000 middle and high school kids who play sports, only 10 transgender student-athletes have self-disclosed, according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
Proponents of the measure say the initiative “confirms female only participation in sports,” according to Let’s Go Washington, a PAC founded by Brian Heywood, who has bankrolled more than 20 conservative ballot measures.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers claim that the language violates the Equal Rights Amendment of Washington’s Constitution because it does not also require boys to undergo the same testing. It also violates procedural requirements for how new laws may amend existing statutes, including the Washington Law Against Discrimination, according to the ACLU’s statement.
Julia Marks, Legal Voice’s managing director, said in a statement she worried about the impact of the new law.
“It creates an invasive surveillance process that could traumatize young girls across Washington — all in the name of discriminating against trans people,” she said.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
