Washington Girls Would Need to Verify Their Sex to Play School Sports. A Lawsuit Aims to Stop It
Suit seeks to block new law, which bans trans girls from girls’ sports and makes all girls verify sex.
Washington nonprofits and families have filed a lawsuit challenging a recently approved law that bans trans girls from sports, while also requiring all girls to prove their sex before they can play on any girls’ team.
Boys are not required to do this.
The plaintiffs in the case include TransFamilies, a nonprofit organization based in Washington state that works to support families with transgender and gender-diverse children; the Washington Education Association (WEA), a statewide union that represents more than 90,000 educators; and the parents of students who play girls’ sports in public schools.
Washington voters approved the law, I-638, in the midterms last week.
There are three ways that girls can “verify” their sex, according to the ACLU of Washington: “through the student’s reproductive anatomy, their genetic makeup, or their normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
The ACLU of Washington said in a press release that the suit argues that the law violates the state’s constitution, including a student’s right to privacy and for imposing the verification process only on girls and not boys.
The plaintiffs are seeking emergency relief to block the law from taking effect on December 3.
“Sports give young people a place to make friends and be part of a team, but Initiative 638 seeks to deny transgender girls those opportunities,” said Adrien Leavitt, staff attorney for the ACLU of Washington, in the release. “Washington has long had strong protections against discrimination. We will fight to stop this law from taking effect and prevent this needless attack on youth in our state.”
Julia Marks of Legal Voice, which represents TransFamilies and the parents of students along with the ACLU of Washington, said: “Think about what this law actually does: it creates an invasive surveillance process that could traumatize young girls across Washington — all in the name of discriminating against trans people.”
