Initiatives 001 and 638 on statewide ballots were both sponsored by political group Let’s Go Washington. That group also sponsored the other statewide initiative this year to repeal the millionaires' tax.
The arguments for and against the ballot measures mirror a nationwide debate centered on the rights of LGBTQ+ students.
Initiative 638 would ban transgender students from competing in K-12 girls’ sports. The initiative would require verification of a student’s assigned sex at birth from a medical professional.
“Their main argument is that this really puts female athletes at a competitive disadvantage in sports,” said Mitchell Roland, state government reporter for The Spokesman-Review. “Those who oppose the initiative have argued that this will require doctors to do a genital examination of athletes -- really doing an invasive examination that's outside of the traditional physical that athletes go through to require or are required to go through to compete in K-12 athletics.”
Initiative 001 would repeal the changes that the legislature made last year to the so-called Parents Bill of Rights. The changes would shorten a parent’s timeline to get access to their child's textbooks and also guarantee parental access to “medical or health records.”
Supporters and opponents differ on whether parents have a right to all information related to their child at school, or whether students have a right to private mental health or other information that might put them at risk at home. (In Washington, it is already law that children as young as 13 have the right to make some medical decisions without a parent’s consent.)
“I talked with a teacher down in Thurston County who said that they really want to partner with parents, and to do that, they feel like they can't have any secrets or have any information about a student that they don't want to share,” Roland said. “Opponents of the initiative argue ... it could put those students at risk, [for example] they've come out at school but aren't ready yet to come out to their parents.”
Brooke Migdon covers LGBTQ+ issues for national publication The 19th.
“Washington state ballot measures do not exist in a vacuum by any means. There are similar ballot measures restricting or seeking to restrict transgender athletes in schools in Colorado, in Arizona, Nebraska,” Migdon said.
While Initiative 001 doesn’t raise LGBTQ+ issues specifically, opponents say the measure could do harm to those students. Laws in other states, including Idaho, have created “parental notification laws” which require schools to disclose to parents if a student has changed their gender identity.
"I would call it probably a driving force, but not the main driving force behind that specific ballot measure. LGBTQ groups in Washington have expressed concerns that this parental rights measure would compel teachers to effectively out trans and gay students to their families who may be unsupportive. So that's a big concern for LGBTQ rights groups with this specific measure and with measures like it,” Migdon said.
