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Almost 20 years ago, Washington became the first U.S. state where transgender students could compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Now Washington voters could be among the first in the country to approve a ban on transgender girls playing girls sports through their K-12 schools, or the first to reject such a ban.
On the ballot in next week’s election, Initiative 638 is putting Washington in the spotlight.

Doctors and nurses in Washington warn that an anti-transgender sports initiative would subject girls to invasive sex-verification requirements to participate in school athletics.

Initiative 638 would bar transgender girls from girls’ school sports teams and require students competing in girls’ sports to provide verification of their sex from a healthcare provider. Under the measure’s text, that verification would have to rely on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or naturally produced testosterone levels.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/seattle@lemmy.sdf.org/p/2038678/cost-of-living-in-oslo-vs-seattle

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Against a backdrop of increased immigration enforcement nationwide, a new report from the University of Washington Center of Human Rights confirms ICE is still using state data to find targets in Washington.

Washington Initiative 638 aims to ban trans girls from girls’ sports, and Washington Initiative 001 would threaten the privacy and safety of 2SLGBTQIA+ students by opening up access to all school records to parents, including medical and mental health records. Opponents of the measure say it could force school staff to out students who may not be accepted at home.

The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a nonprofit organization representing 57 tribal governments, passed a resolution at its annual September convention opposing both ballot measures.

“Therefore, be it resolved, that ATNI strongly opposes Washington Initiatives I-001 and I-638 and finds that these measures are inconsistent with the Tribes’ commitment to protecting children, strengthening families, and ensuring the well-being of all young people,” the text of the resolution reads.

Shivani Singh is an anesthesiologist who moved to Washington state three years ago after completing her residency.

She questions the basic premise of the initiative — that trans girls would have a physical advantage when competing in girls’ sports.

“It takes some amount of time and research and energy to… zoom out a little bit and understand that is not potentially true,” she said.

Trans girls undergoing hormone therapy are not biologically the same as cisgender men, she said.

“I think it is likely that there are gonna be aspects of… taking those hormonal therapies that can also potentially put someone at a disadvantage,” she said.

Singh is also concerned that kids would have to undergo a health exam to prove they are girls — either through a genital exam, genetic test, or hormone test.

She calls that “inappropriate” and says the proposed exam could open the door to “potential abuse by the system, which seems troubling.”

Initiative 638 is one of the harmful initiatives that will be on your ballot this fall; ballots will be sent Oct. 16 and need to be returned by Nov. 3. The initiative discriminates against transgender girl athletes by banning them from school sports that align with their gender identity. We need Washington voters to reject this initiative and show that, in our schools, all children are part of the team.

Of all the measures that wealthy hedge fund mogul Brian Heywood has sunk money into since he decided to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of Tim Eyman’s initiative factory at the end of the 2010s, Initiative 638 might be his most deceptive. It’s the third item Washingtonians will see on their ballots when they get them in a few days.

The measure would require students who want to join a girls’ sports team to undergo sex verification, either through a genital exam, a chromosome test, or a hormone test. This would be a departure from current state policy, which lets kids play on teams that align with their gender identity.

According to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, from April to August 2026, LGW had paid a collective $22,236 to Amiee Staudt, parent to 17-year-old Tumwater High School student Frances Staudt.

LGW confirmed to the SGN on Oct. 6 that Staudt was hired on April 27, 2026 as a development coordinator for the campaign, and is still performing that role. The SGN has reached out to the Staudt family and is still awaiting an initial reply.