Initiative To Ban Trans Girls From Girls Sports Headed For November Ballot In WA

It’s all but official: The evil rich dude got his anti-trans initiative on the ballot. On Thursday morning, Washington Secretary of State Steven Hobbs delivered official notice to the Washington State legislature that his office has completed the signature verification and certification process for Let’s Go Washington’s IL26-638, which would require invasive medical verification of sex for school-age kids to play on girls’ sports teams. Will Washington voters be as obsessed with children’s genitalia as hedge fund CEO Brian Heywood and the rest of his Let’s Go Washington goons? It looks like we will find out in November. 

As you probably are aware, Let’s Go Washington, bankrolled by Heywood and a few other rich fucks, has spent the past couple of years throwing shitty conservative ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks via the citizen’s initiative process.

Their latest, flashiest conquest included IL26-638, which would amend the State’s law governing the Washington Interscholastic Association to condition girls’ participation in sport on a genital examination or blood test to verify female sex. Students already undergo physical examinations before participating in sports, but under the initiative, this examination must "verify the student's biological sex, relying only on one or more of the following: The student's reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels."

Earlier this month, Let’s Go Washington turned in more than 400,000 signatures for its trans girl exclusion initiative and IL26-001, an initiative to amend changes the State Legislature made to their previous initiative dealing with so-called “Parental Rights.” The Secretary of State is still working to verify signatures for that initiative, according to a statement Thursday.

With the anti-trans initiative certified, lawmakers now have three choices: pass it out right, send it to the people, or send it to the people with their own competing alternative alongside it on the ballot. But according to the Washington State Standard, both Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) and House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma) said they had no plans to hold hearings on either of Let’s Go Washington’s initiatives this session. 

“I’m certain that we will not be passing either of those initiatives,” Pedersen said during the session preview event. “They’ll be up to the voters to decide.”

Over the next few months, LGBTQ+ organizations, advocates, and allies will no doubt be hard at work educating the public and fighting for a “no” vote come November. WA Families For Freedom is leading the charge — I know, they sound right wing as fuck, but trust me. 

In response to the certification of signatures for IL26-638, WA Families For Freedom released the following statement: 

“All students, regardless of race, background, gender or zip code deserve to be safe and welcomed at school, with the respect and security they need to learn and thrive. Our Washington schools and communities must be places of learning and belonging, and deserve support and funding, not harmful attacks at the ballot box. Especially as families are concerned about affordability and providing the best for our children’s futures, our coalition rejects any attempts to bully, including efforts by one mega-millionaire to replace our state’s longstanding policy on trans girls in sports with a statewide blanket ban. Heywood’s measure would make all female students less safe and could put girls as young as 11, who want to participate in school sports, at risk of unnecessary genital examinations or having to undergo expensive genetic testing. In a world where far too many students are still struggling to have healthy meals, clothes on their backs, and a safe home to return to after school, it is confounding that a millionaire would spend political money on this, instead of helping every student have what they need to thrive.”

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