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Let’s get into it:
Washington state voters weighed in on a ballot measure to say that boys do not belong in girls’ sports. Even as voters considered the measure, one boy competing on the Camas girls' track team was causing controversy, either by winning or by taking opportunities from girls who were forced to compete with him. Some high school girls protested, walking off the track as the starting pistol rang out in protest of the unfair play.
Voters listened to the girls, and to common sense entirely, in voting to bar boys, trans-identified or otherwise, from competing in girls’ sports. It’s just not fair, they said, for a male, born bigger and stronger, to play against girls. The boy in question on the Camas team was finishing in the bottom heap of runners when he competed on the boys’ team, but once he switched over, ponytail bobbing, standing head and shoulders above the girls, he was a star.
But the Seattle School Board said not so fast. They’ve passed a resolution that authorizes them to take “legal action” against the voter-approved measure. In their resolution, they state that “the Board is committed to protecting the civil rights of children and ensuring that every student is afforded access to educational and enrichment opportunities regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, immigration status, home language, religion, or socioeconomic status.”
The Board claims that the newly voted-in measure would “subject students to invasive exams to play sports” and “would violate student privacy and safety, and create liability and inappropriate crossing of boundaries for schools, coaches, and teachers.” They complain that the measure applies “exclusively to girls’ athletics” and is therefore sexist and that it would be too hard for schools to tell who is a boy and who is a girl for purposes of sports participation.
However, one look at the law makes it clear how this would all work, and none of it would be an additional burden to schools or students. Yes, there is a physical exam required, but there was already a physical exam required.
“Policies, procedures, rules, and other requirements adopted in accordance with RCW 28A.600.200 by a school district board of directors or a voluntary nonprofit entity must prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students in athletic activities with separate classifications for male and female students if the athletic activity is:
“(a) Intended for female students only; and (b) An individual or team competition activity.
“(2) A student who elects to participate in individual or team competition activities intended for female students only governed under subsection (1) of this section shall provide, as part of the required routine sports physical examination, a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student’s personal health care provider that verifies the student’s biological sex, relying only on one or more of the following: The student’s reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
The measure approved by voters is clear. Boys have no place in girls’ sports. Everyone knows what a boy is. Everyone knows what a girl is. Voters know. The School Board knows. But the School Board doesn’t care what voters want. These seven members of the school board, Gina Topp, Evan Briggs, Kathleen Smith, Joe Mizrahi, Vivian Song, Liza Rankin, and Jen LaVallee, think they know better than the voters, than the people of Washington. They are planning to use funds given to them as tax dollars by those voters to fight the voters who made their will known.
But there’s another thing. We’ve often heard the maxim “you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” Here in Washington state, we see that while this policy of letting boys play in girls’ sports was passed by lawmakers, those who control the school board won’t allow voters to do away with it. They believe they know better than the voters who pay their salaries, and trust them with their children. They don’t. That School Board is up for reelection in August 2027.
Libby