Washington is about as blue as states get, and its voters just approved Initiative 638 to keep boys out of girls’ school sports. Six days later, the state teachers union was in court trying to stop it.
What voters approved
I-638 passed on Nov. 3 with about 56% of the vote. In the count updated Wednesday evening, it had 1,732,343 yes votes to 1,362,534 no. It requires school districts and athletic associations to “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students” in girls’ events.
Students who want to play girls’ sports must have a health care provider verify their sex, based only on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup or naturally produced testosterone levels. The provider may do it during a routine sports physical, and schools may still offer coed activities open to any student.
The law takes effect Dec. 3. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association told KVI radio that it “will have all necessary changes in place by December 3, 2026, as the measure requires.”
The lawsuit
On Monday night, the ACLU of Washington, Legal Voice and Pacifica Law Group sued the state in King County Superior Court on behalf of the Washington Education Association, the nonprofit TransFamilies and several anonymous Seattle parents. The suit claims the law violates the state constitution’s protections for privacy, equal rights and education, and asks a judge to block it before Dec. 3.
Now the ACLU (along with the WEA) is suing Washington state for its recently-passed ballot measure on women’s sports. The last time the ACLU tried something like this, we got a resounding Supreme Court victory for women and girls. We’re ready. Game on. https://t.co/RJYP5FcrSU
— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) November 10, 2026
“Initiative 638 seeks to deny transgender girls those opportunities,” said Adrien Leavitt, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Washington. “We will fight to stop this law from taking effect.”
The same night, the Seattle School Board voted unanimously to authorize its own legal challenge. “Right now, we don’t see a way to implement Initiative 638 without violating those vital protections,” board member Joe Mizrahi said. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson endorsed the move. The district’s superintendent called it “structurally insolvent” in June as it faced an $87 million deficit, Seattle Red reported.
Let’s Go Washington, the committee that put I-638 on the ballot, did not mince words. Opponents “can raise lawsuits about protecting girls’ sports all day, but their true colors are showing,” executive director Darren Littell said, adding that they are “willing to undermine democracy” to get their way. Attorney General Nick Brown’s office said its role “is to ensure it is defended regardless of our personal views about the policy.”
The bottom line
For years we have been told this issue only wins in red states. Washington has not voted for a Republican for president since 1984, and more than 1.7 million of its voters just said girls should compete against girls.
The response from the people who run Seattle’s schools and from the state teachers union was to go straight to court. A district that says it cannot balance its books has found the money to fight its own voters. A union that speaks for the teachers of these girls has chosen to fight against fairness for those same girls.
Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom told Seattle Red that 27 states have passed similar laws and that the Supreme Court rejected the same equal-protection arguments earlier this year. Washington’s courts will decide this case under the state constitution, but the voters have already spoken.
Attorney General Brown now has a duty to defend this law with the same energy he would bring to one he liked. The girls of Washington, and the parents who voted for them, deserve nothing less.