According to Washington Initiative 638, students will be required to submit documentation from their healthcare provider verifying their sex if they want to compete in female athletics.
If passed, Washington would join 27 other states across the nation in prohibiting male athletes who identify as female from participating on girls' and women's sports teams.
Maggie McKneely of Concerned Women for America has been paying close attention to this issue.
"Washington voters actually have an incredible opportunity to become the 28th state to say that boys and men cannot compete on women's sports teams. As of right now, we have 27 states who have laws in that, and those laws were just upheld by the Supreme Court," McKneely says. "We need the rest of the states to go ahead and pass those laws as well because this is a recurring issue, especially in blue states like Washington."
Proponents emphasize that while inflation and cost of living dominate election debates, cultural and athletic protections for female athletes remain a top issue for many families.
For example, Fox News reported about the recent protests by female runners in Washington high school track. Rather than competing against a biological male who was originally on the boys' team, the girls chose to walk and then leave the course.
"I don't want to say kitchen table issues don't matter because they obviously do, but we have huge issues at stake in this election aside from just the economic ones," McKneely states. "This is an ideology that still has taken hold in a huge part of the culture. We see boys taking trophies and medals and scholarships from girls nearly every month and until we actually have it in legislation, it's not going to go away."
Critics have raised concerns over privacy requirements for student physicals, but supporters clarify that the initiative requires no invasive procedures.
"This initiative isn't asking students to undress or anything. It could just be a simple cheek swab that would establish what their biological sex is. I would just encourage people to not listen to the lies that are being spread about it," McKneely says.
