Blue Washington and Colorado Wouldn't Protect Girls' Sports. On Nov. 3, Voters Get the Final Say

Washington and Colorado are two of the most Democratic states in the country, and their lawmakers have refused to keep boys out of girls' school sports. So parents and activists went around them. On Nov. 3, voters in both states will decide for themselves, and voters in Arizona and Nebraska will vote on locking in protections they already have.

The Associated Press put the fight on its national wire, opening in the small town of Kalama, Washington, with 17-year-old track athlete Ahnaleigh Wilson, who has said she lost a girls' race to a male. The Guardian and The Hill have folded the measures into their midterm ballot guides as well. The Guardian counts 145 statewide questions in 39 states this year, and girls' sports is one of the few that draws support across party lines.

Why now

The Supreme Court cleared the way on June 30. In a 6-3 ruling written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in West Virginia v. B.P.J., decided together with Idaho's Little v. Hecox, the Court held that states may keep girls' and women's teams for biological females without violating Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause. More than half the states already do. The four ballot fights are about the states that haven't, or want the rule nailed down.

Washington: Initiative 638

Washington's measure grew out of frustration on the track. A male runner from Spokane won back-to-back girls' state 2A titles at 400 meters in 2024 and 2025, and a push to get the state athletic association to change its rules failed by a single vote, Outsports reported. Bills died in the Democratic Legislature. So Let's Go Washington, the group bankrolled by Seattle hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, took it straight to voters.

The initiative's text is short. Schools and the state athletic association "must prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students" in girls-only events. Opponents claim that means genital exams. The text says a girl's own health care provider confirms her sex on a signed form during the sports physical Washington already requires, using reproductive anatomy, genetics or natural testosterone levels. In other words, it's one more line on paperwork families already fill out.

"My biggest takeaway is that allowing boys to compete in girls' sports isn't working, and it is not fair," Wilson said in a 2024 speech, as reported by OutKick. "My family and I have been told by adults that we are transphobic. That I am a sore loser."

This fall the issue boiled over in Camas, near Portland, where girls walked off a cross-country course rather than race a runner who began the season on the boys' team. A Battle Ground sophomore later gave up her own season over the same runner. Commentator Brandi Kruse's video post on the Camas walkout drew more than 4.9 million views on 𝕏. Kruse was later carried out of a Portland Thorns game for wearing a pro-girls'-sports shirt.

The campaign's own August poll of 7,500 people shows the measure passing with 56%, including 73% of Republicans, 52% of independents and 48% of Democrats, KUOW reported. "People are with us, and they don't wanna say it out loud," campaign spokeswoman Hallie Herzberg told the station. "They will support us, and they will stand up for girls, but they will do it in the safety of their own ballot." Even a state Democratic Party spokesman, Stephen Reed, conceded: "This is not a slam dunk like some folks think it might be." Gov. Bob Ferguson, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Pramila Jayapal are urging a no vote.

Colorado: Proposition 134

In Colorado, Protect Kids Colorado turned in nearly 169,000 signatures, about 45,000 more than the 124,238 it needed, the Cortez Current reported. Proposition 134 would require every school team, from elementary school through college, to be labeled male, female or coed, with students playing on the team that matches their biological sex. A girl could still join a boys' team if her school has no girls' team in that sport, according to the state's nonpartisan Blue Book.

"Prop 134 gives every girl a fair shot at a roster spot, a podium, and a scholarship," said Paula Scanlan, a former NCAA Division I swimmer and co-founder of Athletes for Action, in an Oct. 1 release. Former elite gymnast Jennifer Sey, who lives in Colorado and founded XX-XY Athletics, put the stakes plainly on her Substack: "If these initiatives pass, these will be the first 'blue states' to stand up for the protection of girls' sports," Outsports reported.

Supporters are fighting uphill on money. The opposition group Families Not Politics had raised nearly $1.4 million by early October, against about $160,000 for Protect Kids Colorado, according to filings reported by The Gazette. Eight Colorado school districts and charter schools sued the state's high school athletic association last year over its rules. They settled with the association, which agreed not to punish them for keeping girls' teams for girls, but a federal judge dismissed their claims against the state in August.

Arizona and Nebraska

Arizona already bars males from girls' public school and college teams. Republican lawmakers sent Proposition 318 straight to voters, skipping Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who vetoed a similar bill in 2023. It would extend the ban to private leagues such as Little League, keep locker rooms and showers separated by sex and define sex as recorded on a person's original birth certificate, starting in 2027, the Arizona Mirror explains.

Nebraska passed a girls' sports law in 2025. Initiative Measure 442 would write it into the state constitution, so a future Legislature couldn't quietly undo it. The Nebraska Supreme Court threw out a challenge to the measure 7-0 on Oct. 16. A voter who wanted to know what it does, Justice Derek Vaughn wrote, "need only flip over the page to read the proposed initiative's full text," the Nebraska Examiner reported.

What happens next

Ballots are already out. Colorado officials list Monday, Oct. 26, as the last suggested day to mail a ballot back, and Arizona's last day to mail an early ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 27. Election Day is Nov. 3. If Washington and Colorado say yes, the girls who walked off those courses will have gotten from voters what their own legislators wouldn't give them.