Washington ballot measure could force all girls to have genital inspections to play sports

A new, highly controversial initiative will be presented to voters in Washington state this fall that would specifically bar transgender athletes from participating on girls’ sports teams, according to a report from New York magazine affiliate, The Cut. While another legislative attack on trans girls in school sports is sadly nothing new under the Trump administration, the extremism of this particular measure has resulted in strong opposition from advocates of both cisgender and transgender female student-athletes.

If passed, IL26-638 would impose special eligibility requirements on athletes from kindergarten through high school, requiring them to certify their sex assigned at birth through genetic screening, a testosterone levels test, or even an examination of their reproductive anatomy at their yearly sports physical.

The Cut interviewed several people who were knowledgeable on the topic or who could be directly affected by the passing of IL26-638 (most of whom used aliases to protect their privacy). One such person is Maria, a recent high school graduate and lifelong basketball player who says although she never felt violated during annual sports physicals, a forced genital exam would have certainly changed that.

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“I have never had to take any clothes off. I’ve never felt uncomfortable or violated,” Maria told The Cut, adding that if IL26-638 had passed while she was participating in school sports, she probably would have just dropped out. “I honestly don’t know if I would be able to do these tests. It would also make me question, If I do it, are all my teammates going to, too? Or would I just play with the three or four girls who are willing to or have access to do it?”

The measure comes amid an ongoing war in this country brought on by the far right to “save girls’ sports.” Since 2020, 27 states have imposed measures that ban trans athletes from participating on female sports teams, most citing concerns around fairness and safety. The official paperwork for IL26-638 states its purpose is to protect “the integrity and fairness of women’s interscholastic sports necessitates that students compete in athletic activities consistent with the gender assigned at birth. … Leveraging the existing physical examination process to verify biological sex ensures equity, safety, and competitive balance in sports intended exclusively for female students, while respecting the rights and opportunities of all participants.”

Trans athletes and advocates lost a major battle on June 30, when the Supreme Court ruled that such bans were constitutional and could be enforced according to each state’s rulings. In addition to Washington, Arizona and Colorado will have voters weighing in on trans athlete bans this November.

Opponents of IL26-638, like Libby Watson, campaign manager for No Hate in WA State, argue that the measure’s requirements of a physical examination to determine gender are not only crude and archaic, but a violation of all female student-athletes' rights and privacy. IL26-638 is currently “the most extreme measure of its kind in the country in the mechanisms by which it forces all girls to have their sex assigned at birth verified by a health-care provider,” Watson noted.

Since 2007, Washington, historically one of the most progressive states in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, has allowed students to play on teams that aligned with their gender identity. However, the growing national debate over trans athlete participation has brought attention to the state’s inclusive policy. Brian Heywood, a right-wing hedge-fund manager backing IL26-638 through his political action committee, Let’s Go Washington, recently told local radio station KUOW that continuing to allow trans students to participate on girls’ teams comes “at the expense of female athletes and their safety.”

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“This is not okay,” added Heywood. “Boys are welcome to play in whatever sport they want within the confines of their biological teams.”

“Brian Heywood and Let’s Go Washington have millions of dollars, mostly given by Brian Heywood himself,” added Watson. “It’s a really expensive misinformation campaign that we’re up against. We know that both IL26-638 and the initiative around the state’s parental-rights law are beatable, but we need the resources to do that messaging.” As of July, the financial scales are certainly tipping in Heywood’s favor, with records showing that Let’s Go Washington has raised nearly $3.3 million to push the measure while No Hate in WA has raised just over $1.3 million to fight it.

“Sex testing is, in its nature, an extreme and unworkable concept,” Chris Erchull, a senior staff attorney at GLAD Law, told The Cut. “The sad and cynical truth is that people are funding these ballot initiatives because they want to drive Republican voter turnout for a midterm election,” he adds. “It is just like in 2006, when Republicans poured money into ballot initiatives to oppose marriage equality.”

In addition to the measure being a violation of all girls’ basic rights and bodily autonomy, opponents of IL26-638 are questioning its accuracy and validity. For starters, the initiative’s official text incorrectly suggests that students in Washington state already have to undergo sex-verification tests before being allowed to participate in school sports. The state’s current recommended evaluation forms for school sports show no requirement of a physical exam to confirm a student’s gender. The measure’s text also doesn’t establish who would conduct the exams, who would pay for them, when they should take place, or how the policy would be enforced across schools.

“I haven’t met a single person who has thought this was a good initiative,” added student athlete Maria, who has been organizing against the ballot measure. “And I think for good reason because it just has no place in school sports. It breaks my heart. For me to encourage young girls to play sports and become passionate about it, just for more obstacles and barriers to be put in their way — it just feels so wrong. This measure is rooted in such hate. It is villainizing children. It is controlling both girls’ autonomy and anatomy.”