Lawsuit Challenges Washington's Ban on Trans Athletes
The Facts
- Attorneys for the ACLU of Washington, Legal Voice and Pacifica Law Group filed suit Monday in King County Superior Court on behalf of the state teachers' union, the nonprofit TransFamilies and parents of student athletes to stop the implementation of Initiative 638.
- The complaint argues that Initiative 638's sex verification provisions violate state constitutional protections for privacy, equal rights and equal education and conflict with anti-discrimination law. Legal Voice Managing Director Julia Marks called it an "invasive surveillance process."
- The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) said Wednesday it is following current state law and has no plans to join litigation over Initiative 638's restrictions on trans athletes in girls' sports.
Sources Split
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The Spin
Right narrative
Washington voters approved a girls' sports measure by double digits, and the lawsuit asks judges to undo it. Girls' teams exist because male and female bodies differ, and keeping the female category female is a matter of fairness. A doctor's form is a modest price, and the Supreme Court has upheld such rules. Opponents who lost at the ballot box want a friendly court to overrule the people.
Left narrative
A measure written by a political committee makes every girl in Washington prove her sex to play, through anatomical, genetic or hormonal evidence, and never asks the same of boys. Intrusive records and tests endanger the privacy of all students, including intersex and transgender girls. State constitutions shield privacy and equal rights from majorities, and about ten athletes cannot justify it.
