Washington AG’s office won’t defend voter-approved trans sports ban as families sue to stop it

Washington’s attorney general has declined to have his office defend a new ban on school sports participation for transgender girls after parents and educators sued to block the policy earlier this week. An outside law firm will defend the state instead.

This month, Washington residents voted to adopt Initiative 638, which prohibits trans girls from competing with cisgender girls in school sports and requires female students to verify their sex through medical documentation.

A group of parents and a union representing public school employees sued the state of Washington to block the policy, arguing it violates privacy, equal rights and anti-discrimination protections. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown announced Thursday that his office had appointed Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner to handle the defense, describing the use of outside counsel as common practice when conflicts of interest or capacity issues arise.

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

“We have vigorously defended state laws that give transgender people equal protection under Washington law,” Brown said in the press release. “We will not and cannot abandon that work.”

Ordinarily, attorneys general lead the defense in lawsuits against their states. Brown’s decision puts that responsibility in the hands of outside lawyers.

Conservative politicians and advocates in Washington have accused Brown’s office of conflicts of interest around trans rights, according to Seattle-based NPR affiliate KUOW.

Brown has previously argued against bans on trans sports participation. His former law firm, Pacifica Law Group, is also representing the Washington Education Association, the union challenging the measure.

“My personal views do not dictate what laws get defended or the strength of that defense,” Brown said. “While voters have passed a law changing our state’s approach to school sports, many other laws remain on the books that protect the rights of transgender people.”

Related: Deep-blue Washington State passes ballot initiative banning trans girls from sports

Washington is one of four states to adopt a ballot measure this month that imposes restrictions on school sports participation for trans students. Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska also adopted such measures, but Washington’s is the only one of the four with sex verification requirements, The Guardian reported.

“Washington has long had strong protections against discrimination,” said Adrien Leavitt, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, in a Tuesday press release. “We will fight to stop this law from taking effect and prevent this needless attack on youth in our state.”

Related: Based on anti-trans spending, right-wingers could afford to pay every trans student athlete a six-figure salary

The ACLU of Washington is representing parents in the lawsuit alongside Legal Voice, a nonprofit law firm.

The new policy “creates an invasive surveillance process that could traumatize young girls across Washington — all in the name of discriminating against trans people,” said Julia Marks, managing director of Legal Voice, in the press release. “We’re not about to go backward in Washington.”