WASHINGTON STATE — ‘Let’s Go Washington’ launched a new initiative that aims to prohibit transgender athletes from playing in gendered sports.
IL26-638, also known as “Protecting Fairness in Girls’ Sports” proposal, has sparked debate amongst Washingtonians. Brian Heywood with ‘Let’s Go Washington’ says that there are not enough restrictions on who is allowed to play in women’s sports.
“They have no gates at all,” Heywood said. So, any biological male that wants to can participate, without anyone challenging them, in women’s sports. And that’s wrong.”
Washington state law currently states that athletes are required to present physicals that prove their gender assigned at birth. Washington State Representative, Monica Stonier, says that the initiative is another right-wing effort to create problems between families and public-school systems.
“I think this is just another example of the far-right political machine trying to create problems where there are none and playing politics with our families’ relationships with public schools,” Stonier said.
A frequent topic of conversation surrounds bathroom and locker room situation with transgender athletes. Heywood says that not enough is being done.
“What really fired me up was listening to female athletes who have been displaced and listening to female athletes who have been in locker rooms where a male athlete from another team was able to go and change in their dressing room,” Heywood said. “And the girls would say ‘Where’s the dads?’, and it really struck me that someone needs to stand up and fight this fight.
Stonier says that coaches and staff already have these issues under control.
“They’re usually coupled with conversations about fears of bathroom happenings and things like that when, in actuality, as a four-year schoolteacher, a middle school teacher who coached youth sports for years, any time we run into a situation where any one single student needs special accommodations, we figure out how to do that,” Stonier said.
‘Let’s Go Washington’ would need to accumulate at least 308,911 valid signatures to bring the initiative before Washington State Legislation.