Voters in Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska approved ballot measures this week barring biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, dealing a blow to transgender activists even in two states Democrats carried decisively.
The measures in Washington, Colorado, and Arizona are statutory, meaning they change state law directly. Nebraska’s measure amends the state constitution, giving it stronger protection against future repeal by lawmakers.
Washington
Washington’s Initiative 638 passed 56.8 percent to 43.2 percent. The measure bars males from girls’ school sports teams and requires students to provide a signed statement from a healthcare provider confirming their biological sex. Because it is a statutory measure, state lawmakers could more easily move to weaken or repeal it than if it had been written into the constitution.
Colorado
Colorado voters approved two separate measures. Proposition 134, the sports ban, passed 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent. It requires students to compete on teams matching their biological sex rather than self-declared gender identity, and forces schools, colleges, and athletic associations to classify teams as male, female, or coeducational.
Proposition 135 passed 52 percent to 48 percent, banning sex-change surgeries for anyone under 18 in the state.
Arizona
Arizona voters passed Proposition 318 by a wide margin, 58.9 percent to 41.1 percent. The measure keeps transgender-identifying males out of girls’ sports and out of female-only spaces including locker rooms and restrooms. It also requires athletic teams to be designated male, female, or co-ed, and extends the restroom and locker-room rule to employees as well as students.
Nebraska
Nebraska’s Initiative 442, the Fairness for Girls constitutional amendment, passed in a landslide, 67.8 percent to 32.2 percent. It amends the state constitution to keep transgender-identifying males off girls’ sports teams and requires schools to designate teams as co-ed, male, or female.
What it means
The results came even as Democrats posted broad wins nationally on Election Day, including victories by several candidates who support transgender participation in women’s sports, among them transgender-identifying candidates themselves. That split outcome suggests the fight over girls’ sports is far from settled, even as voters in blue and red states alike keep siding against allowing males to compete against women.
