OLYMPIA — Washington voters will decide this fall whether transgender athletes can continue to compete in girls' sports in K-12 schools.
An initiative, which will appear on the ballot as Initiative Measure No. IL26-638, would require school districts and nonprofit organizations to "prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students" in sports with separate team or individual competitions.
To compete, students would be required to submit documents from a healthcare provider verifying "the student's biological sex (based on)... reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels."
Opponents say it would require physicians to depart from current procedures and force students to undergo invasive genital exams or costly blood or hormone testing to compete.
Supporters, however, say the initiative is needed to protect women's sports and maintain a level playing field for girls in the state. They also say opponents have exaggerated what girls likely would need to prove they are girls as defined by the initiative .
Zeke Smith, a member of the No Hate in Washington State executive committee representing the Waters Meet action fund, said the initiative is the most "dramatic example of this type of measure across the country."
"It doesn't just target the youth they're trying to impact, but it actually targets all girls and potential sports players," Smith said. "So it just seems like it's egregious. It's not consistent with the values that we have in Washington, where we're really intentional about creating opportunity for all of our neighbors."
The focus on results in sports, Smith said, also "skews the value of athletics in our society and community," and that there's an "overemphasis" on who wins and loses.
"I played in team sports when I was younger, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't learn how to be a part of a team, how to be a part of a community, how to both win and lose," Smith said. "Those are all factors that having trans girls compete in girls athletics shouldn't affect. In fact, it gives opportunity for those young people to learn about those lessons and ideas as well."
Student-athletes in Washington currently can participate in programs "consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed," according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's handbook.
Although there is no official data, state officials have estimated there are five to 10 transgender athletes out of more than 200,000 students who compete across the state.
While supporters in Washington initially gathered enough signatures to send the initiative to the Legislature, lawmakers opted to send it to the November ballot rather than taking action in the 2026 legislative session.
Hallie Herzberg, a spokesperson for Let's Go Washington, the political action committee behind the initiative, said the proposal would mean that "boys are not allowed to compete or participate in" leagues intended for women.
"There's a lot of freedom for the WIAA to determine what works best, but essentially, the only thing the initiative requires is a checkbox to be added back onto the sports physical form that was on the form up until 2019, when it was removed," Herzberg said. "It would just add a checkbox back onto that sports physical form that a doctor already fills out that says male or female, and then that will determine which league a student will be able to participate in."
Supporters of the initiative in Washington say it's about basic fairness. Mead track and cross-country coach Dori Whitford said she's watched her athletes change after competing against a transgender athlete.
"I watch my girls be different than they were three years ago. All of them," Whitford said. "Not just my top athletes, the ones that are last place and are now one farther back than they would have been."
In recent months, she has been an opponent of transgender athletes competing in girls' sports and has rallied support for the state to change its laws. In February, Whitford testified in support of the state ballot measure during a Republican-led listening session in the state capitol.
"When people say there are only a few, what they're saying is it's not right, but there's not enough to make a difference," Whitford said. "I was brought up in Title IX. I was told that I was important, and I believed it because they made categories for me, and now that's gone."
A recently retired teacher, Whitford said she taught transgender students during her career, and suggested a third category for transgender athletes to compete in. But she struggles to understand those who disagree with her.
"They're great," Whitford said of her transgender students. "They just don't belong in girls' sports."
While the initiative language states that doctors will leverage "the existing physical examination process," Dr. Libby Loft, a board-certified family medicine doctor in Spokane, said the statement is "kind of misleading."
"The initiative specifically says we doctors can't use a birth certificate to be able to attest that a player is a girl; the specific language says we're only to rely on examinations of reproductive anatomy, genetic or hormone tests," said Loft, who is opposed to the initiative. "In my 13 years practicing as a family doctor, I've never done an invasive pelvic exam as part of a routine sports assessment."
Whitford says an invasive pelvic exam still wouldn't be necessary.
"That's their argument to put fear in, that's an absolute lie," Whitford said. "Here's what's gonna happen. Your pediatrician has known you forever. They can put a little check mark in the medical form that says you are born a boy or a girl."
But Loft noted many families don't have pediatricians they've been going to for years. They often use group settings to obtain their physicals, such as a pop-up clinic in a school gymnasium, spaces that could provide little privacy for athletes undergoing examination.
"Not every girl has a private family doctor or pediatrician with a trusting long-standing relationship. It's unrealistic that the invasive examinations being required by I-638 can be performed in those settings without humiliating and traumatizing young girls," Loft said. "Girls with fewer resources to begin with are even more likely than affluent girls to be deemed unqualified for sports by not being able to comply with the invasive exams and expensive testing."
The examination would also be ineffective, Loft said.
"It's also not medically possible to tell what chromosomes somebody was born with by just an external quick look at what genitals they have as far as girls go," Loft said. "So, I'm really not comfortable as a doctor hanging my hat, if I'm being held legally responsible, like I certify this is a girl participating in sports."
Alternative verification methods, such as blood or chromosome testing to prove eligibility, could also be a barrier to entry, Loft said. A routine blood testosterone test can cost $162 if it's not covered by insurance, while chromosome testing costs $1,310.
"The initiative does not say anything about who's going to pay for hormone tests," Loft said. "I think it's very unlikely that insurance companies are going to foot the bill for unnecessary medical testing."
Loft said that while she understands the concern about fairness, the initiative is not the "right mechanism."
"One hundred ten thousand girls should not be subjected to invasive pelvic exams or expensive testing to be able to exclude, you know, a handful of trans girls in the state of Washington," Loft said. "In addition to that, I don't think we should be excluding trans girls from sports."
Similar laws are on the books in 27 states, and two additional states enforce similar restrictions. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Idaho law that bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports that align with their sexual orientation.
Idaho was the first to pass such legislation in 2020, and it applies to athletics from elementary school through college.
The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in this summer when it ruled that state laws barring transgender athletes from participating on girls' or women's teams do not violate either the 14th Amendment or Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The ruling followed a challenge to the Idaho law that bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports that align with their sexual gender identity. While the court ruled that states can enforce this type of law, it did not say they are required to do so.
© 2026 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.). Visit www.spokesman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
