Seattle Times recommends ‘No’ on I-638, ban on trans girls in sports

IL 26-638 would unfairly target a few students to appease those who want to dictate to schools just who is worthy of participating in competitive sports and who isn’t.

The Times editorial board recommends voters say “no” to fearmongering and vote “no” on an initiative that would only exclude more student athletes from sports.

Participation in school-sponsored sports helps develop confidence, work ethic and leadership skills. Those are worthy qualities for all students.

In 2007, Washington became the first state to allow transgender athletes to participate in sports in categories that are consistent with their identity.

In 2025, fresh off a presidential victory in which he used transgender people as political scarecrows, President Donald Trump issued one of his many overreaching executive orders that banned transgender girls and women from competing in sports in institutions that receive federal funding. Some states followed suit and issued bans as well, as did the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The U.S. Supreme Court this summer gave more authority to states to ban transgender girls in sports in two decisions it rendered, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox.

But Washington stood up to Trump’s order because the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s policy was inclusive of all students and consistent with state law.

IL 26-368 would send Washington back to the days of “femininity certificates,” when amateur women athletes, including Olympic athletes, had to carry proof that they had passed visual exams and chromosome testing that proved they were women. Under this proposed initiative, parents of girls as young as 12 could be subject to this violation of privacy.