Four States Vote to Restrict Trans Athletes in Girls' Sports
The Facts
- Colorado's Proposition 134, which requires school and college teams to be designated male, female or coed based on biological sex, was called Thursday by The Associated Press. Opponents conceded as the measure led with about 52% of the vote.
- This came after Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington earlier this week backed measures restricting transgender athletes from girl's and women's sports teams. Three were citizen initiatives, while Arizona's proposal reached the ballot through its Legislature.
- Washington's Initiative 638 passed with 56.6% of the vote and is set to take effect Dec. 3. It ends a state athletic association policy in place since 2007 that allowed transgender students to compete on teams matching their gender identity.
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The Spin
Right narrative
Fairness in girls sports isn't a partisan talking point — it's basic common sense. And voters across blue and red states just proved it. Girls spend years training for podium spots, roster slots and scholarships, and those rewards belong to the athletes the category was built for. Title IX exists to protect female competition, and keeping that promise is doing right by girls.
Left narrative
Banning a dozen kids from school teams promotes discrimination and does nothing for the girls already shut out by sky-high fees and shrinking programs. Forcing every girl to hand over a signed sex verification just to make a roster adds cost, delay and humiliation to the very sport the rule claims to defend. Fairness belongs in the hands of sports associations and medical experts, not ballot campaigns hunting a scapegoat.
