Status: 🔴 2026 Washington ballot initiative that would ban transgender girls from girls’ school sports and require healthcare-provider sex verification
The Sex Verification Requirements for Female School Sports Initiative is a citizen-initiated measure on the November 3, 2026 ballot in Washington, filed as Initiative to the Legislature No. 638 (IL26-638). It is an indirect initiated state statute: after sponsors gathered signatures, the state legislature declined to adopt it, sending it to the voters. It is backed by Let’s Go Washington, the conservative PAC founded and primarily funded by Brian Heywood.
If approved, the initiative would require school districts and nonprofit organizations that regulate interscholastic activities to “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students” in sports that maintain separate team or individual competitions for male and female students. Students seeking to participate in female-designated athletics would have to submit a statement from their healthcare provider verifying their “biological sex,” defined by reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or “normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
This measure would prohibit students it defines as “biologically male” from competing in certain school athletic activities intended for female students only. It would require verification of biological sex by students’ healthcare providers. Should this measure be enacted into law?
This measure would require policies prohibiting students it defines as “biologically male” from competing with or against female students in certain interschool athletic activities that are intended for female students only. Students who choose to participate in such activities must provide a statement from the student’s healthcare provider verifying the student’s biological sex, based on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels. These requirements would apply to individual or team athletic competitions.
Let’s Go Washington is leading the campaign in support of the initiative. Spokespeople for the PAC argue that “biological men are competing in girls’ sports in Washington State, and it’s destroying fairness in girls’ sports,” and claim that Title IX opportunities for women and girls “are being erased.”
The campaign reported about $7.0 million in contributions as of mid-2026, including roughly $2.3 million from the PAC’s founder, Brian Heywood. Other top donors include wealthy individuals and a real-estate investment firm.
Opponents argue the initiative is a solution in search of a problem and a threat to students:
Only a handful of transgender girls play afterschool sports in Washington, yet [the initiative] will rollback Washington’s successful sports policy in place since 2007 and institute a statewide blanket ban. This poorly written initiative will subject many girls to invasive, medically unnecessary and harmful genital exams to verify their sex.
As of June 2026, opposition committees had raised roughly $969,000, against about $5.46 million raised in support.
Washington has had an inclusive school sports policy since 2007, allowing transgender students to participate in athletics consistent with their gender identity. The initiative would replace that policy with a statewide ban and mandatory sex verification.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2, 2025 | Brian Heywood files the petition with the Washington secretary of state |
| June 13, 2025 | Initiative assigned serial number IL26-638, ballot title, and ballot summary |
| January 2, 2026 | Proponents file 445,187 signatures (308,911 valid signatures required) |
| 2026 legislative session | Legislature declines to adopt the measure |
| November 3, 2026 | Initiative appears on the general election ballot |