File photo of a running track in Montréal, July 2025. Ptaff / Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
5 Nov 2026

Washington voters approve ban on trans girls in school sports

Initiative 638 restricts participation in girls’ competitions and requires healthcare providers to verify the sex of students entering them.

Washington state voters have approved Initiative 638, which bars transgender girls from girls’ school sports. Axios reported the Associated Press call on 5 November, and FOX 13 also reported that the measure passed.

The initiative covers competitive school sports with separate male and female classifications. Students entering female-only competitions will have to provide a signed statement from their personal healthcare provider verifying their sex. The text places this requirement within the routine sports physical and specifies reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup or naturally produced testosterone levels as the permitted bases for verification.

The initiative’s stated aim is fairness in girls’ sports. Washington State PTA opposed it, saying the verification requirement would put new barriers in the way of girls who want to compete.