Whether you are an athlete competing against a boy on your own team for the starting spot, a coach or parent watching girls battle the mental, emotional and physical toll of competing against boys, or a retired elite athlete who experienced the benefits of Title IX protections firsthand, one conclusion remains the same: Girls deserve a fair opportunity to compete.
That’s exactly the protection that I-638, officially known as the Defending Equity in Interscholastic Sports Act, establishes for girls.
For decades, sports have separated competition by sex for a reason. We have separate categories because biological differences matter in athletic competition.
Those anatomical and biological differences are the foundation on which women’s sports were built. The American College of Sports Medicine’s consensus statement on sex differences in athletic performance concluded that males are typically stronger, more powerful and faster than similarly aged and trained females, with males generally outperforming females by roughly 10% to 30% in sports dependent on endurance, strength, speed and power. The International Olympic Committee and the NCAA confirmed that transgender women will not be permitted to compete in female categories.
If scientific research, other states, public opinion, Olympic and collegiate eligibility all agree that boys should be kept out of girls’ sports and spaces, why are we telling Washington girls that they have to compete against boys?
Transgender girls took podium spots in Wenatchee track and field events, played basketball in Tumwater and allegedly assaulted a female wrestler in a match in Puyallup. Female cross-country athletes in Spokane said they dropped out of sports altogether.
These are not hypothetical situations; they are the real stories of real girls being forced out of their sports by boys. Girls are being told to be quiet, accept that boys have the right to take their places and that their voices don’t matter.
Voting yes on I-638 protects opportunity by requiring that female-only interscholastic competitions remain protected for females. It utilizes the existing process for sports physicals and simply adds a checkbox for a student athlete’s doctor to check that verifies their sex.
Let’s be clear: I-638 does not require genital exams for student athletes. The opposition says that to scare people away from supporting a reasonable and responsible protection for girls’ sports. Doctors will be allowed to use existing medical history forms or rely on their existing knowledge of their patient to simply check a box and confirm the athlete’s sex.
The initiative doesn’t ban anyone from sports, nor does it create additional testing for student athletes. It’s simply about ensuring that girls have safe and fair opportunities to compete in the sports they love. All students will be allowed to play in the leagues that align with their sex.
Compassion for transgender students and fairness for female athletes do not have to be mutually exclusive. Every student deserves dignity and every student deserves opportunities to participate in athletics. Voting Yes on I-638 means they will have both.
Inclusion should not require female athletes to give up the competitive category that was created specifically because of the biological differences between males and females.
Female athletes should not be forced to watch opportunities, podium positions or records disappear before anyone takes their concerns seriously. Even one lost opportunity is too many.
It’s time for adults to believe girls and support athletes in their sports. Vote yes on I-638 and keep girls’ sports safe and fair.
