Washington and Colorado ballot measures on transgender athletes and minors' surgery

Mixed · 2Voters in Washington state and Colorado will face ballot measures on transgender athletes in next week's midterm elections, and Colorado voters will also decide on a measure about surgeries for minors. 1 2 Mixed · 2Washington's Initiative 638 would require any student who wants to play on a girls' team to have a health care provider verify her sex, whether she is transgender or not. 2 1 Right · 1The Washington Examiner opinion piece says the measure's allowed verification methods include genetic testing such as a cheek swab, and that activists are wrongly claiming it would require invasive genital exams. 1

Left · 1Let's Go Washington, the political action committee behind the measure, founded by Republican donor and hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, says it would not mandate such exams, though its spokesperson Hallie Herzberg acknowledged some voters are asking about genital exams. 2 Left · 1Opponents in Washington, reported by Raw Story citing MS NOW, are framing the measure as government intrusion into every girl's and family's life rather than centring transgender athletes, who they say number fewer than a dozen statewide. 2 Left · 1Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, from opposite wings of the Democratic Party, both oppose it; Gluesenkamp Perez said it isn't fair for boys to compete in girls' sports but she cannot support a rule making girls prove their sex to the state every year. 2

Left · 1The leading opposition group, No Hate in Washington State, avoids the word "transgender" in its digital ads, and Herzberg conceded the argument is landing. 2 Right · 1In Colorado, Proposition 134 concerns girls' sports and Proposition 135 would, per the Colorado Sun, prohibit doctors from performing surgeries on minors to alter sex characteristics and bar state or federal funds, Medicaid or private insurance from paying for them; the Examiner says it does not ban hormones. 1 Mixed · 2The Examiner writer argues the votes are a chance for Democratic-leaning electorates to break with their party, noting Colorado backed Kamala Harris by 11 points in 2024 and Washington by 18; Raw Story says Democrats in Colorado and Arizona, where similar measures are on the ballot, are taking the same approach as in Washington. 1 2

Left · 1Raw Story adds that Republicans are again spending millions on anti-trans attacks, while the American Principles Project told GOP candidates they also need a compelling economic message, and research overseen by strategist Adrienne Kimmell found Democrats gain when they argue Republicans are fixated on transgender people rather than the cost of living. 2