Arizona voters expand sports ban on trans students

Arizona voters have decisively approved a measure targeting transgender students and their participation in sports.

Proposition 318, also known as the “Protect Girls’ Sports in Arizona Act,” was passed early Wednesday morning, according to a call from Decision Desk HQ, with 41 percent of voters opposing the measure and 59 percent in support at 3:39 a.m. Eastern time. Seventy-nine percent of ballots had been counted at the time the projection was made.

The measure, which goes into effect January 1, prohibits trans students, K-12, from playing on sports teams and accessing facilities like locker rooms, restrooms, and showers that correspond with their gender identity. The proposition limits the definition of sex to "biological status as male or female as recorded at birth on the individual’s original birth certificate.” It also strikes down an existing provision allowing any student, including girls, to join an intramural team or sport designated for boys. Boys are already prohibited from joining girls’ teams in Arizona.

Related: Republicans have made Americans believe transgender athletes are everywhere. They’re barely anywhere

Proposition 318 expands an existing law, signed by Governor Doug Ducey in 2022, that prohibits trans girls from playing on girls’ teams in public schools and private schools that compete against them. The law faced legal challenges, but was enacted this year after a Supreme Court ruling.

Proposition 318’s new proposed restrictions apply to all Arizona schools and athletic associations. Additionally, it empowers students to sue schools that violate these restrictions, KTAR News reports.

Related: The Supreme Court’s trans sports ruling is about more than athletics

While supporters of the measure framed it as an issue of fairness and safety, Darrell Hill, ACLU of Arizona’s policy director, slammed it as “unnecessary” and cautioned it would open the door to greater discrimination against transgender people.

“You are in danger of facilities or cities reading the law very broadly and restricting access to bathrooms for trans kids and adults in a variety of situations which have nothing to do with participation in sports.… It can really act as a big barrier for trans people to participate in public life,” said Hill, who also saw the restrictions applied to private schools as a potential First Amendment violation.

Republicans, faced with an unpopular president and headwinds from issues like affordability and the war in Iran, tried to use anti-trans campaigning to try to turn out their base for the midterm elections. There were five measures targeting LGBTQ+ youth on state ballots this cycle, reports GLAAD.