‘This was always coming’: Left-leaning Washington and Colorado voters approve transgender athlete bans
WASHINGTON, DC: Voters in Washington state and Colorado have approved measures banning transgender athletes from joining school sports teams that align with their gender identity. The results are notable because both states usually lean Democratic, and their governments had not pushed for these types of bans, which are far more common in Republican-led states.
Instead of waiting for lawmakers, supporters took the issue directly to the ballot, and voters across party lines backed the measures. According to the Associated Press, these votes fit into a broader trend during this election cycle, with several states taking up the question directly.
Washington and Colorado approve transgender athlete bans
Measure 638 in Washington, which received more than 56% of the vote, will prevent students who were assigned male at birth from participating in sports designated for female athletes. The measure also requires athletes seeking to participate in female sports to produce a statement from a health care provider verifying their gender.
Proposition 134 in Colorado will require educational institutions and athletic associations to designate sports as male, female, or coed.
The proposal, which received support from 52% of voters, will also limit athletes to participating in sports based on the gender they were assigned at birth.
The votes came in states where Democratic-led governors' offices and legislatures had declined to enact the kind of bans that have become common in Republican-led states.
Supporters of the bans decided to force the issue by putting it on the ballot, and the results indicate that what conservatives once used as a wedge issue in the culture wars has become one of the few issues to receive bipartisan support.
"This was always coming because politicians in those states have been ignoring their constituencies on the ground," said Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a professor at Duke Law School.
Arizona and Nebraska expand transgender athlete restrictions
The votes came during the same election cycle in which Arizona voters chose to expand restrictions initially outlined in a 2022 law.
Proposition 318 will prohibit transgender girls from participating in female sports in all schools and athletic associations. They were already barred from doing so in public schools. The measure will also limit transgender people to using bathrooms and other private spaces designated for the gender they were assigned at birth.
Nebraska, which already had a ban in place on transgender athletes, codified the restriction in the state constitution after voters passed Measure 442. The measure requires schools to designate a sport as male, female, or coed and prohibits students assigned male at birth from participating in female sports.
Trump's executive order adds to transgender sports restrictions
The results in Washington and Colorado came less than two years after President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports.' The order gave federal agencies wide latitude to ensure that entities receiving federal funding abide by Title IX in accordance with the Trump administration's interpretation of sex as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
The expansion of transgender athlete bans across individual states, with well over half the country now having some form of restriction, highlights the growing support for these policies. The passage of other conservative-backed measures, such as voter ID requirements in places like Ohio, also indicates that some Trump-backed policies resonate with voters across the political spectrum.
However, widespread discontent over more high-profile issues, including the war in Iran, had a far greater impact during the midterm elections, which ended with Democrats gaining control of the House and Senate.
