In four states, voters approve measures barring biological men from women’s sports 

Despite the Democrats’ sweeping victories in the midterms on Nov. 3, conservatives still tallied a few big wins, most notably with amendments passed in four states that protect women’s sports: Washington, Arizona, Nebraska, and Colorado.

A Washington ballot initiative banning biological males from competing in girls’ K-12 school sports passed with 56 percent of the vote as of Thursday evening.

Initiative 638 applies to girls interscholastic sports and “partially walks back a longstanding statewide policy that allows transgender students to participate on the sports teams that align with their gender identity,” the Seattle Times reported.

In Arizona, the “Protect Girls Sports in Arizona Act” separates sports teams and locker room and bathroom access by sex on birth certificates. It passed with 59 percent of the vote.

In Nebraska, its Initiative Measure 442 passed with 68 percent of the vote. The measure enshrines part of a 2025 state law requiring public K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and private schools or colleges playing against public ones, to designate sports and teams as male, female or coed; biological males cannot play on female-only teams.

“The measure faced multiple court challenges based on critics arguing the ballot language was too broad. The court battle led up to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which upheld the ballot measure’s validity in an October ruling,” the Nebraska Examiner reported.

In Colorado, Proposition 134 bans transgender athletes from competing in gendered sports, from kindergarten through college, the Colorado Sun reported, noting it passed with 52.4 percent of the vote.

“It requires that students assigned male at birth play only on boys teams or co-ed teams and vice versa for females,” the Sun reported. “It defines girls as people with female reproductive organs and boys as those with male reproductive organs.”

Alliance Defending Freedom’s Senior Counsel Matt Sharp, vice president of public policy, said in a statement that the ballot measures’ success illustrates the public’s support of protecting women’s sports.

“The people of Nebraska, Arizona, Colorado, and Washington state took a stand for biological reality and made their voices clear: Girls deserve to compete on a safe and fair playing field. When we reject truth, the harm is real, widespread, and devastating,” he said in a news release Thursday.

“Far too many girls have been forced to compete against male athletes, losing athletic opportunities and medals as a result,” he said.