Voters in Washington and Colorado have approved ballot measures that ban transgender athletes from participating in school-sanctioned sports, aligning these left-leaning states with a trend seen in more conservative regions.
In Washington, Measure 638, which garnered over 56% of the vote, will prohibit students assigned male at birth from competing in sports designated for female athletes. The measure also mandates that athletes seeking to participate in women's sports must provide a statement from a healthcare provider verifying their gender. Similarly, Colorado's Proposition 134, supported by 52% of voters, requires educational institutions and athletic associations to classify sports as male, female, or coed. This proposition further restricts athletes to competing in sports aligning with the gender they were assigned at birth.
These votes occurred in states with Democratic-led administrations that had previously not enacted such bans, contrasting with the norm in Republican-led states. Supporters of these bans reportedly pushed the issue to the ballot, suggesting that the topic has become a bipartisan concern, transcending typical cultural divides. Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a professor at Duke Law School, noted that such outcomes were anticipated due to politicians potentially overlooking local sentiment and that future adoptions in other blue states may depend on local politics and advocacy group mobilization.
The measures follow Arizona's expansion of restrictions through Proposition 318, which prohibits transgender girls from competing in female sports across all schools and athletic associations, beyond already existing public school bans. This proposition also limits transgender individuals to using facilities corresponding to their birth-assigned gender and requires an athlete's "sex" to match their birth certificate. Violators may face lawsuits from athletes.
Nebraska also reinforced its ban on transgender athletes with Measure 442, which was codified into the state constitution. This measure mandates that schools categorize sports as male, female, or coed and prevents students assigned male at birth from participating in female sports.
In contrast, a county-level ban in Nassau County, New York, was struck down by an appeals court on the same day, representing a setback for its proponent. This occurred in the same election cycle where former President Donald Trump's 2020 executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports," aimed to align federal funding recipients with the administration's interpretation of Title IX, which defines "sex" based on birth assignment.
The passage of these state-level transgender athlete bans, now adopted in more than half the country, alongside other conservative-backed policies like voter ID requirements in Ohio, indicate that certain Trump-era policies continue to resonate with a broad range of voters. However, other national issues reportedly had a more significant impact on recent midterm elections.
Not all conservative-backed initiatives gained voter approval. In Missouri, voters rejected Amendment 3, which sought to ban gender-transition treatments and surgeries for minors and repeal abortion rights. GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis stated that efforts to use fearmongering about transgender people are a "losing strategy."