BUZZ
City’s mayor adds ‘we affirm the rights of transgender youth and stand with them and their families’
On Election Day, voters in Washington State approved Initiative 638 which, according to Ballotpedia, requires school districts to “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students.”
The vote overturns an almost-20-year state policy of allowing students to participate on school sports teams “consistent with their gender identity.”
Seattle’s Child reports the initiative garnered the support of 56 percent of the state’s voters, and is due to go into effect on December 3.
But the Seattle Public Schools Board voted unanimously this past week to “authoriz[e] legal action” against the measure — and it has the support of the city’s mayor.
The board’s resolution claims the initiative “would impose requirements related to student participation in athletics that undermine student privacy and dignity” and “subjects students to invasive exams.”
(The initiative notes “as part of the required routine sports physical examination,” a potential interscholastic sports competitor “shall” provide “a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student’s personal health care provider that verifies the student’s biological sex.”)
The resolution also states concerns about “unequal treatment” (only girls are “subjected […] to scrutiny, verification, and potential invasions of privacy”) and “increas[ed] harm and exclusion for some students.”
DEVELOPING: The Seattle Public Schools Board voted unanimously to legally challenge the will of the voters who elected to protect girls’ sports. Look at the cowards run after the meeting A win for the patriarchy https://t.co/OgLjGaZ6r1
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) November 10, 2026
The board had indicated it was opposed to the initiative a month and a half before Election Day.
At the recent meeting, Board Director Joe Mizrahi noted that “as a father of three daughters who play sports” he personally opposed Initiative 638.
“I don’t see how we can implement the requirements of Initiative 638 without violating […] other laws and constitutional protections,” Mizrahi said. “It raises serious questions about equal protection, student privacy, and whether we’re creating additional barriers for female student athletes to participate in school athletics.”
On Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson tweeted her support of the board’s stance, saying “we affirm the rights of transgender youth and stand with them and their families.”
In a related matter, the Washington Education Association (the state’s NEA affiliate), the ACLU, and “partner” organizations Legal Voice, Pacifica Law Group, and TransFamilies filed suit against Initiative 638 claiming the state constitution “protects students’ privacy in their bodies and personal medical information.”
“All students have a protected right to education free from discrimination — which includes school athletics,” the ACLU Washington said.
In response, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a motion to “intervene” in the case on behalf of Female Athletes United, which “advocates for the protection and integrity of female athletics.”
MORE: In four states, voters approve measures barring biological men from women’s sports
