Blue States Colorado and Washington Vote to Restrict Trans Athletes
Intra-Party Split Detected
Despite Democrats winning a 'blue wave' in the 2026 midterms, a notable share of Democratic and left-leaning voters in Colorado and Washington crossed party lines to support ballot measures restricting trans athletes in sports and (in Colorado) banning gender-affirming surgery for minors, indicating disagreement within the left's base on this issue even as party leadership and LGBTQ advocacy groups opposed the measures.
Left says
- •These measures could subject all female athletes, not just trans youth, to invasive scrutiny or physical exams to verify their biological sex, creating a chilling and humiliating precedent.
- •Colorado's surgery ban denies trans youth and their families access to medical care that major medical associations consider legitimate and sometimes necessary, overriding parents' and doctors' judgment.
- •The outcome is especially painful given that Colorado and Washington are among the most LGBTQ-supportive states in the country, suggesting that anti-trans messaging can peel off support even in friendly territory.
- •Massive outside spending and national messaging campaigns, not necessarily local sentiment, may have shaped how these ballot measures were framed and understood by voters.
Right says
- •Title IX and decades of women's athletics progress were built on sex-separated competition, and allowing biological males to compete undermines fairness built for female athletes.
- •Personal accounts of athletes injured or displaced from rosters and championships by biologically male competitors show these policies have real, direct consequences for girls and women.
- •Grassroots parent-led organizing, not big-money campaigns, drove these wins — supporters of the measures were vastly outspent by opponents yet still succeeded.
- •The fact that these measures passed in reliably blue states shows that protecting women's sports categories is a mainstream position that crosses party lines, not a fringe right-wing cause.
Common Take
High Consensus- Colorado's Proposition 134 and 135 and Washington's Initiative 638 all passed with majority support, each roughly 52% to 57%.
- Both sides recognize these results are notable precisely because Colorado and Washington are considered reliably Democratic and LGBTQ-supportive states.
- Supporters and opponents agree the ballot measures will have real effects on trans youth's ability to participate in school sports and, in Colorado, access certain medical procedures.
- Both sides acknowledge this issue cut across the broader 2026 midterm results, in which Democrats otherwise made substantial gains nationally.
The Arguments
Right argues
Title IX and decades of women's athletics progress were built on sex-separated competition, and allowing biological males to compete undermines the fairness that category was designed to protect, as shown by documented performance gaps after male puberty.
Left counters
Framing this as settled biological fact ignores that these laws can be enforced only through invasive verification procedures, meaning all girls—not just trans athletes—risk being subjected to humiliating scrutiny of their bodies to prove they belong in their own category.
Left argues
Colorado's surgery ban strips trans youth and their families of access to medical care that major medical associations consider legitimate, substituting the judgment of voters for that of parents and doctors in deeply personal healthcare decisions.
Right counters
Many medical systems and countries have grown more cautious about irreversible surgical interventions on minors, and voters reasonably concluded that permanent, life-altering procedures on children warrant stricter safeguards than ordinary medical decisions.
Right argues
Grassroots, parent-led organizing — not big money — drove these wins, with supporters outspent roughly 20-to-1 by opposition campaigns yet still prevailing at the ballot box, suggesting genuine, broad-based public concern rather than manufactured outrage.
Left counters
Being outspent in official campaign finance doesn't account for the years of coordinated national messaging, media amplification, and framing efforts by advocacy networks that shaped how these issues were presented to voters well before the official campaign spending began.
Left argues
The outcome is especially striking because Colorado and Washington rank among the most LGBTQ-supportive states in the country, indicating that anti-trans messaging can peel off support even in otherwise friendly political territory and shouldn't be read as a simple referendum on trans rights overall.
Right counters
If these measures can pass decisively even in the bluest of states, that is precisely the evidence that protecting sex-based categories in sports is a mainstream, cross-partisan position rather than a fringe right-wing cause imposed on reluctant voters.
Right argues
Personal accounts of female athletes injured, displaced from rosters, or losing championship opportunities to biologically male competitors demonstrate that these policies address real, concrete harms, not hypothetical concerns.
Left counters
Elevating a small number of high-profile individual cases into the basis for sweeping statewide policy risks imposing serious, population-wide harms on a tiny and already vulnerable group of trans youth to address statistically rare occurrences.
Challenge Questions
These questions target genuine internal contradictions — meant to provoke honest reflection.
Right asks Left
“If these measures passed with majority support in some of the most LGBTQ-friendly states in the country, on what basis can the result be attributed primarily to outside messaging rather than genuine, widely-held voter concern about fairness in sports?”
Left asks Right
“If protecting fairness in girls' sports is the central justification for these measures, how do proponents address the practical reality that verifying 'biological sex' in a legally binding way requires some form of physical or documentary scrutiny applied to all female athletes, not just those suspected of being trans?”
Outlier Report
Left Fringe
Figures like GLAAD leadership and columnist Mario Nicolais (who called the measures evidence Colorado is becoming a 'hate state') represent a vocal minority—maybe 15-20% of the left—who view any sex-based sports restriction as categorically bigoted rather than a legitimate fairness debate.
Right Fringe
Activists like Jennifer Sey (XX-XY Athletics) and commentators who frame this as part of a broader culture war crusade, including some who invoke unrelated incidents (e.g., the Loudoun County assault case) to argue for sweeping restrictions on trans people generally, represent perhaps 10-15% of the right pushing beyond the sports-fairness consensus into broader anti-trans policy territory.
Noise Assessment
High noise ratio on social media and in advocacy messaging (both GLAAD-aligned and XX-XY Athletics-aligned accounts), but the underlying ballot results themselves reflect genuine, non-performative public sentiment since they were decided by actual voters in both red and blue regions of these states.
Sources (9)
Trans youth and their allies suffered a significant blow in the 2026 midterms as voters in two blue states approved ballot measures to sharply restrict trans rights, including youth access to sports. Voters in both Colorado and Washington state approved ballot measures to limit student athletes to playing on teams "designated" for their "biological sex" as assigned at birth. Supporters of the measures billed them as necessary to protect cisgender women and girls, but critics warned they would open the door to dangerous consequences — permitting, or even requiring, invasive genital exams of girls seeking to play sports...
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/double-win-colorado-bans-gender-surgeries-for-minors-protects-girls-sports.png?id=68538721&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C1%2C0" /><br /><br /><p>Colorado has voted in favor of two propositions that progressives say will result in more "hate" in the state.</p><p>For others, they will ban barbaric gender-related operations on minors and keep girls' sports teams for girls only.</p><p class="pull-quote">'No one ... becomes transgender on a whim.'</p><p><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/feeds/Proposition%20135%20in%20Colorado%20had%20a%20lot%20of%20money%20pumped%20into%20the%20campaign,%20specifically%20for%20the%20" target="_blank">Proposition 135</a> was fairly straightforward and asked voters to decided whether they support a ban on gender-related procedures for minors.</p><p>Voting "yes" on the proposition meant prohibiting health care professionals from "performing or providing surgeries to individuals under age 18 for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics," while prohibiting state and federal funds and insurance coverage from paying for such procedures.</p><p>A "no" vote opposed all of the above.</p><p>Coloradoans voted in favorite of banning the procedures, with 52% of them voting "yes" on the proposition, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/ballot-measures" target="_blank">NBC News</a>.</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/shows/relatable/we-need-to-talk-about-homecoming-dresses-christian-moms-whats-going-on" target="_blank">We need to talk about homecoming dresses. Christian moms: What’s going on?</a></strong></p> <p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-custom"> <img alt="" class="rm-shortcode" id="85240" src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=68538702&width=1245&height=700&quality=50&coordinates=0%2C53%2C0%2C54" /> <small class="image-media media-photo-credit">Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images</small></p> <p>Proposition 135 in Colorado had a lot of money pumped into the campaign, specifically for the "no" vote.</p><p>According to Ballotpedia, campaign finance figures showed that more than $4.4 million was contributed to the "no" campaign, versus just over $215,000 for the "yes" campaign.</p><p>Before the vote, 27 states already had laws or policies restricting gender-related surgeries for minors, according to <a href="https://www.kff.org/lgbtq/gender-affirming-care-policy-tracker/" target="_blank">KFF</a>.</p><p>Many coastal states, including California and New York, do not have restrictions on such operations.</p><p><strong>RELATED: <a href="https://www.theblaze.com/tech/fcc-robo-call-spam-texxt" target="_blank">Spam texts and robocalls cost Americans billions — the biggest victims are not those you suspect</a></strong></p> <p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"> <img alt="" class="rm-shortcode" id="83ff1" src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=68538710&width=1245&height=700&quality=50&coordinates=0%2C53%2C0%2C54" /> <small class="image-media media-photo-credit">Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images</small></p> <p>As expected, progressives were against the proposition, with activist groups like <a href="https://glaad.org/fact-sheet-colorado-proposition-134-and-135-anti-lgbtq-ballot-measures/" target="_blank">GLAAD</a> calling that proposition, along with another ballot proposition to require separating school sports by gender, "anti-LGBTQ ballot measures."</p><p>At the same time, Colorado Sun columnist Mario Nicolais <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2026/10/25/propositions-134-135-transgender-opinion-nicolais/" target="_blank">said</a> that passing the measures would make Colorado a "hate state."</p><p>Nicolais said that the propositions should not be passed because "the transgender community has been singled out." "No one of any age becomes transgender on a whim," he wrote. "No one does so just to play sports."</p><p>The proposition to keep "people with male reproductive systems" off of female school sports teams in Colorado, Proposition 134, also <a href="https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/ballot-measure-results/" target="_blank">won</a>, by a slightly higher margin: 52.3% to 47.7%.</p><p><em>Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. </em><em><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/newsletters/theblaze-articlelink" target="_self">Sign up here</a></em><em>!</em></p>
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/no-league-of-their-own-trans-athletes-force-women-to-fight-for-what-they-ve-already-won.jpg?id=68606962&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0" /><br /><br /><p>Do you ever notice ... how something women spent decades fighting for now requires an election to keep?</p><p>A league of their own. </p><p class="pull-quote">A national organization cannot be the only voice your daughter hears defending her. Moms and dads need to stand up in their own communities.</p><p>Not a guaranteed championship. Not a participation trophy.</p><p>A fair chance to compete against other females. Apparently, we need to count the ballots on that.</p><p>Girls shouldn’t need an election to have their own sports. But here we are.</p><h2>Tuesday’s victory</h2><p>On November 3, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Washington considered measures addressing sex-based athletic eligibility.</p><p>Different proposals, different provisions, but a common question: Will we preserve female sports categories for females?</p><p>Voters in Nebraska, Arizona, and Washington <a href="https://stateline.org/2026/11/04/trans-sports-bans-get-voter-approval-in-4-states/" target="_blank">approved ballot measures</a> prohibiting boys from participating in girls’ sports. Proposition 134, a similar measure in Colorado, <a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/politics/elections/colorado-lawmaker-says-nothing-off-table-if-transgender-youth-measures-pass/73-8a10f346-d2b1-4c29-8d98-f0a94100f623" target="_blank">was also leading</a> as votes continued to be counted.</p><p>My wife and I attended an election-night watch party with supporters of <a href="https://www.protectkidscolorado.org/" target="_blank">Protect Kids Colorado</a>, the grassroots organization behind Proposition 134 and two other ballot measures.</p><p>Chaired by XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, Protect Kids Colorado helped organize the effort behind Proposition 134 alongside local moms Erin Lee, Lori Gimelshteyn, and other concerned parents.</p><p>The room was filled with volunteers and supporters, hopeful and energized as the results trickled in.</p><p>These folks had worked hard.</p><p>More than 3,300 petition circulators helped qualify the organization's three measures for the ballot, with 170,000 Coloradans signing its petitions.</p><p>They knocked on doors, visited churches, and talked with their neighbors.</p><p>And catch this: October <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Proposition_134,_Sex_Requirement_for_School_and_College_Sports_Initiative_(2026)" target="_blank">campaign finance reports showed</a> roughly $4.4 million raised by opponents, compared with about $216,000 supporting the effort.</p><p>About 20 to 1.</p><p>Apparently, concerned parents didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to be overwhelmed.</p><p>And guess what?</p><p>As of Wednesday morning, Proposition 134 was leading with roughly 52% of the vote, although the outcome remained uncalled.</p><h2>Years-long fight</h2><p>But this story started long before anyone ordered campaign signs.</p><p>Women <a href="https://www.oprah.com/world/40th-anniversary-of-title-ix-women-athletes" target="_blank">fought for years</a> to get their daughters onto playing fields, into gymnasiums, and onto college rosters.</p><p>They fought for equipment, practice time, coaching, and scholarships.</p><p>Representatives Patsy Mink and Edith Green and Senator Birch Bayh <a href="https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/members-only-patsy-mink" target="_blank">helped carry that fight into Congress</a>.</p><p>President Richard Nixon <a href="https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/advocacy/history-of-title-ix/" target="_blank">signed Title IX</a> on June 23, 1972.</p><p>Its prohibition against sex discrimination extended across federally funded education, with athletics becoming one of its most consequential applications.</p><p>Implementation required years of additional pressure and litigation.</p><p>Before Title IX, girls accounted for roughly 294,000 high school sports participation entries. In 2025-2026, that figure <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/sports/title-ix-anniversary-womens-sports.html" target="_blank">exceeded 3.65 million</a>.</p><p>Pause on that for a moment.</p><p>That is an extraordinary achievement.</p><p>Yet, now we’re arguing over whether the category that helped make that progress possible should remain female.</p><p>We finally opened the gym doors for girls.</p><p>Then some adults apparently forgot why there were separate teams inside.</p><h2>Biology matters</h2><p> Biological sex matters in sports.</p><p>Boys are male. Girls are female. Period.</p><p>Identifying differently does not change that.</p><p>Hormones and surgery can alter physical characteristics. But they do not change a male into a biological female.</p><p>The American College of Sports Medicine <a href="https://acsm.org/biological-basis-sex-differences-athletic-performance/" target="_blank">identifies biological sex as a major determinant </a>of athletic performance.</p><p>Its consensus statement explains how male puberty produces substantial differences in muscle mass, strength, power, oxygen-carrying capacity, and other physical characteristics relevant to competition.</p><p>Before puberty, performance differences are much smaller. That doesn’t mean every boy beats every girl.</p><p>It explains why we have girls’ teams.</p><p>We understand competitive categories when weight classes are involved.</p><p>Nobody tells a lightweight boxer that objecting to a heavyweight opponent demonstrates a disappointing lack of inclusion.</p><p>Yet girls are expected to accept a comparable dismissal of the physical differences their category exists to recognize.</p><h2>Profiles in courage</h2><p>These are actual girls with actual consequences.</p><p>We know <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/us/riley-gaines-lia-thomas-upenn" target="_blank">Riley Gaines</a>, who became a national advocate after tying Lia Thomas at the NCAA championships.</p><p>We remember Italian Olympic boxer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/01/angela-carini-abandons-fight-after-46-seconds-against-imane-khelif" target="_blank">Angela Carini</a> abandoning her Paris bout after just 46 seconds, overwhelmed by powerful punches from Imane Khelif.</p><p>The fight intensified the controversy over why the IOC permitted him to compete after a previous disqualification over sex eligibility.</p><p>We saw fencer Stephanie Turner <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/usa-fencing-disqualifies-female-fencer-refusing-fight-trans-opponent-rcna199556" target="_blank">take a knee </a>rather than compete against an opponent identifying as female, receiving a disqualification for refusing the bout.</p><p>In Connecticut, runners Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith, and Ashley Nicoletti <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/female-athletes-sue-policy-allowing-transgender-athletes-compete/story?id=99878569" target="_blank">challenged a policy </a>allowing male athletes who identify as female to compete in girls’ track.</p><p>Their attorneys report that two such competitors collected 15 girls’ state titles between 2017 and 2020.</p><p>Their lawsuit concerns lost honors and competitive opportunities, not an abstract disagreement over terminology.</p><p>Then there is <a href="https://genspect.org/beyond-gender/she-was-injured-by-a-male-player-now-she-is-speaking-out-payton-mcnabb/" target="_blank">Payton McNabb</a>, the North Carolina volleyball player struck in the face by a ball spiked by a transgender opponent in 2022.</p><p>McNabb has described sustaining a concussion and lasting problems, including impaired vision and partial paralysis.</p><p>Sports involve injuries. Everybody knows that.</p><p>The question is why adults should require girls to accept additional concerns about physical mismatches while treating their objections as the real problem.</p><p>And girls should not have to sustain a serious injury before somebody decides their concerns deserve a hearing.</p><h2>Shifting the blame</h2><p>The issue follows them into the privacy of a locker room.</p><p>Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20230727/116284/HHRG-118-JU10-Wstate-ScanlanP-20230727.pdf" target="_blank">testified</a> that administrators told the women that Lia Thomas’ participation and presence in their locker room were nonnegotiable.</p><p>When the women objected, they were offered psychological services to become comfortable undressing in front of a male.</p><p>Scanlan summed up the university’s response this way: “We, the women, were the problem, not the victims.”</p><p>Let that settle in.</p><p>The women raised concerns about their own privacy.</p><p>The university decided that it was the women who needed adjusting. Apparently, the boundaries that needed moving were theirs.</p><p>In 2025, Penn <a href="https://penntoday.upenn.edu/announcements/penns-title-ix-resolution-us-department-education-office-civil-rights" target="_blank">entered a federal Title IX resolution agreement</a> that included policy changes and personalized apologies to affected female swimmers.</p><p>An apology matters.</p><p>So would having listened to them in the first place.</p><p>But many more girls have names we don’t know. </p><p>The girl who missed qualifying for state.</p><p>The girl who lost a college scholarship. </p><p>The girl changing in a bathroom stall.</p><p>The girl wondering whether speaking up will cost her teammates, friends, or a place on the roster. More of them are finding their voices.</p><p>A championship race happens once.</p><p>And for many, that is once in a lifetime after years of dedicated training. You cannot give a teenager those starting blocks back at age 30.</p><p>They shouldn’t need a national following before the adults in their own community listen. </p><h2>Kids first</h2><p>Here in Colorado, the dispute is still unfolding.</p><p>Parents at Dakota Ridge High School <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/colorado-parents-refuse-stay-silent-school-allegedly-targets-girls-trans-athlete-locker-room" target="_blank">have objected</a> after a male student who identifies as female made the girls’ junior varsity volleyball roster while female students were cut.</p><p>Their account raises a straightforward question about whose opportunities a girls’ roster is supposed to provide.</p><p>Jefferson County Public Schools says its gender-identity policies comply with Colorado law. The federal government says those policies violate Title IX.</p><p>In March, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found violations involving female sports, bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations.</p><p>In June, it <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-issues-warning-letter-jefferson-county-public-schools-colorado-district-refuses-follow-title-ix" target="_blank">issued another warning</a> over the district’s refusal to change course.</p><p>President Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/" target="_blank">February 2025 executive order</a> directed federal agencies to protect female athletic opportunities and locker rooms through Title IX enforcement.</p><p>Jefferson County Public Schools continues to resist that enforcement position.</p><p>The Supreme Court, meanwhile, <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/court-rules-that-states-can-exclude-transgender-athletes-from-girls-and-womens-sports-teams/" target="_blank">upheld Idaho’s and West Virginia’s sex-based sports restrictions</a> in June 2026.</p><p>To be precise, it ruled that states may maintain those restrictions; it did not order every state to adopt them.</p><p>Which helps explain why Coloradans had Proposition 134 on their ballots.</p><p><a href="https://www.jeffcokidsfirst.com/blog" target="_blank">Jeffco Kids First </a>has helped bring local parents’ concerns into public view. Jeffco’s school board opposed Proposition 134.</p><p>Parents shouldn’t need a working knowledge of federal litigation to ask who can try out for their daughter’s volleyball team.</p><h2>IOC on board</h2><p>Even the International Olympic Committee has changed course.</p><p>Its new female-category policy, beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Games, <a href="https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/international-olympic-committee-announces-new-policy-on-the-protection-of-the-female-women-s-category-in-olympic-sport" target="_blank">limits eligibility to biological females</a>, using a one-time SRY gene screening.</p><p>Yet defending female sports can still make you a target at a women’s basketball game.</p><p>Ask Jennifer Sey.</p><p>Her company, <a href="https://www.xx-xyathletics.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23448139386&gbraid=0AAAAA9U_9lt3dxToGzUqANSHdXdtYjTmD&gclid=Cj0KCQiA77DXBhCHARIsAHf2MNoQfI_5wqNtlPwHEv6xNUCoulx5VwpcOBiTeZLmX-Wg9MkkqWrD7r0aAo5gEALw_wcB" target="_blank">XX-XY Athletics,</a> sells shirts with a simple message: “Refuse to Pretend.”</p><p>Sey has been <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/girls-stand-boy-switches-cross-130050472.html" target="_blank">outspoken in support of the Camas cross-country girls</a> who walked away from a race rather than accept their male teammate’s participation in the girls’ category.</p><p>That runner has since qualified for the girls’ state championships, finishing seventh at the regional qualifier. That is a place in the girls’ state competition that is now occupied by a male.</p><p>When somebody says this affects only a small number of athletes, ask them which girls are supposed to consider their opportunity expendable.</p><p>Your daughter?</p><p>Or is it OK if it’s somebody else’s child?</p><p><strong>RELATED: </strong><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/lifestyle/the-wnba-has-a-tolerance-problem-and-its-not-coming-from-the-women-in-xx-xy-shirts" target="_self"><strong>The WNBA has a tolerance problem — and it’s not coming from the women in XX-XY shirts</strong></a></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"> <img alt="" class="rm-shortcode" id="805b1" src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=68607025&width=980" /> <small class="image-media media-photo-credit">Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</small></p><h2>Fouling out</h2><p>Earlier this WNBA season, security <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/atlanta-dream-apologizes-two-women-182411093.html" target="_blank">told fans to cover their XX-XY shirts</a>.</p><p>At the Finals, Sey recorded the harassment directed at her and her friends, including people telling them to kill themselves.</p><p>Security escorted them from their seats for a “conversation,” then allowed them to return.</p><p>You would think supporting female sports would be an ordinary position at a women’s basketball game.</p><p>Apparently, the shirt needed its own league approval review.</p><p>Meanwhile, the WNBA’s <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/49957874/discrimination-law-transgender-athlete-enes-kanter-freedom-wnba-policy" target="_blank">collective bargaining agreement says</a> “only players who are women are eligible,” without defining “women” or spelling out transgender eligibility rules.</p><p>That leaves the boundary of its female category unresolved. </p><p>The league can tell you when a foot crosses the three-point line. You would think it can explain who qualifies for the women’s league. </p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/" target="_blank">Moms for Liberty</a> has helped bring these concerns into public view.</p><p><a href="https://adflegal.org/support/donate-6m-match/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=brand-search&sourcecode=11041076&utm_content=~20248933359_150742826875_alliance%20defending%20freedom%5E814946495493&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20248933359&gbraid=0AAAAADybqLeyrvEzXz4XOF7_j11S1uZ8l&gclid=Cj0KCQiA77DXBhCHARIsAHf2MNpozJ9oqMEp_5aiNRr0fVi234-MKFvssmbjTjq8txkPJepj6HN0CDoaAvurEALw_wcB" target="_blank">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> has represented female athletes, including the Connecticut runners, in their fight for fair competition.</p><h2>Going local</h2><p>Those efforts make a difference, but a national organization cannot be the only voice your daughter hears defending her. Moms and dads need to stand up in their own communities.</p><p>At the school board meeting. In the athletic director’s office.</p><p>When policies are written and when their daughters say something is wrong.</p><p>A dad can spot a missed holding penalty from the upper deck through somebody’s nachos. Surely he can find his voice when his daughter’s opportunity is on the line.</p><p>Show up.</p><p>Ask direct questions. Insist on answers.</p><p>Support her when she speaks, especially when speaking carries a cost.</p><p>We tell our children to stand up for what is right. They ought to see us doing it.</p><p>Scott Smith’s daughter was sexually assaulted by a male student in a Loudoun County school bathroom.</p><p>The attacker later assaulted another girl after being transferred to a different school. Investigations did not establish that he claimed a female identity to gain entry.</p><p>What they did establish was serious institutional failure.</p><p>Protecting private spaces also requires acknowledging that access rules can be exploited. Girls should not have to determine whether someone entering their private space is sincere.</p><p>And a father demanding accountability should not have to fight an institution more concerned with managing the controversy than answering for what happened.</p><p>Nebraska and Arizona have decided.</p><p>They are still counting votes in Colorado and Washington. But whatever the final tally, the girls deserve an answer.</p><p>Their mothers and grandmothers fought to get them onto the field.</p><p>Their daughters should not have to spend their athletic careers in court explaining why that field exists.</p><p>Refuse to pretend.</p><p>Girls should not have to surrender what women fought so hard to win.</p>
<img src="https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/common-sense-prevails-washington-voters-buck-blue-wave-on-girls-sports.jpg?id=68614893&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C13%2C0%2C94" /><br /><br /><p>An unlikely victory for advocates of protecting women's sports has rocked a deep-blue state — and LGBTQ protesters aren't at all happy about it. </p><p>While a blue wave swept the nation on Tuesday, some argue that common sense prevailed in Washington state. </p><p class="pull-quote">'This vote is a testament that that evil will not win in our state.'</p><p>Washington Initiative 638's proposed update to existing law would require a signed physician's note that "verifies the student's biological sex" and would "prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students."</p><p>AP News <a href="https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/ballot-measure-results/" target="_blank">reported</a> that the initiative barring trans-identifying males from participating in women's sports <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/11/03/us/elections/results-washington-measure-638-trans-athletes-participation-in-school-sports.html" target="_blank">passed</a> with strong support: 1,438,212 votes, or 56.8%, in favor versus 1,094,168 votes, or 43.2%, against the measure, with 78.5% of the votes counted.</p><p>The organizers of the ballot initiative, <a href="https://letsgowashington.com/" target="_blank">Let's Go Washington</a>, <a href="https://x.com/letsgowa/status/2118527287050052052?a=xk4bUdLg_rDtbRByQYo&s=20" target="_blank">said</a> the effort brought girls together: "They stood for their friends in other states because they have been forced to compete against boys in girls' sports." </p><p><strong>RELATED: </strong><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/news/voter-id-passes-four-states" target="_self"><strong>Voter ID laws pass in FOUR states despite devastating blue wave</strong></a></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube"> <span class="rm-shortcode" style="display: block; padding-top: 56.25%;"></span> </p><p>Let's Go Washington highlighted one advocate, Kendall Kotzmacher, who likewise <a href="https://x.com/KKotzmacher/status/2118072663788962057?a=stzEbnfSWg6lQ6KAtZs&s=20" target="_blank">celebrated</a> the win on social media: <span style="background-color: initial;">"</span>Common sense prevails!!"</p><p>Brian Heywood, the founder of Let's Go Washington, told Blaze News that this was a win for all of the girls who have been "told time and again by the majority party that their voices and opportunities don't matter."</p><p>"On election night," Heywood continued, "those girls saw that millions of Washingtonians stand with them and care that their sports are safe and fair. Washington’s girls are worth protecting and fighting for. Five years from now, I hope girl athletes don’t know this fight took place, because that will mean that they don’t have to carry the burden these girls did and that boys know their place is not in girls’ sports."</p><p>"This vote is a testament that that evil will not win in our state," Heywood added. "To every female athlete who wondered whether her voice mattered: Washington heard you."</p><p>LGBTQ advocates, however, saw the issue differently.</p><p>A number of supporters for "trans rights" gathered on Thursday night at Westlake Park in Seattle to reflect on the success of the initiative. </p><p>King 5 Seattle <a href="https://youtu.be/rd99G1dYBDE?si=ZT4_DZJt9yisvR__" target="_blank">reported </a>that many who gathered were "deeply" upset by the passage of the initiative. One person at the event called the results a "complete travesty." Another older attendee argued that it will have a "chilling effect on trans people of all ages."</p><p>Initiative 638 was the only ballot initiative that passed in the state. An initiative to repeal a millionaires' tax and an initiative to restore some parental rights in schools failed, perhaps indicating something unique about the issue of women's sports.</p><p>A spokesperson for Let's Go Washington told Blaze News that "fairness isn't a partisan issue," arguing that "nearly half of the people who signed the initiative in the first place were Democrats and independents, so it just proves that everyone cares about keeping girls' sports for girls."</p><p>Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, told Blaze News: “The midterm results proved — despite deep-pocketed interest groups' efforts to label the initiatives as ‘right-wing’ and ‘bigoted’ — that protecting girls’ sports was never about right versus left; it’s about right versus wrong.” </p><p>Sey added: “Now party leaders must take heed: Your own base has spoken decisively. This is a watershed moment, though it will not end the debate. These measures will not finish the work. Laws never change culture by themselves. Twenty-one states still do not protect female categories. Undoubtedly, some will resist. </p><p>"The difference now is that Washington … parents and athletes have legal recourse."</p><p><em>Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. </em><em><a href="https://www.theblaze.com/newsletters/theblaze-articlelink" target="_self">Sign up here</a></em><em>!</em></p>
<p>Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska all voted on ballot measures banning males from female sports teams, bucking Democrats' push for American society to prioritize self-reported "gender identity" over biological reality.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/11/06/voters-in-4-states-including-deep-blue-washington-and-colorado-kick-trans-athletes-out-of-girls-sports/" rel="nofollow">Voters in 4 States, Including Deep-Blue Washington and Colorado, Kick Trans Athletes Out of Girls’ Sports</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.breitbart.com" rel="nofollow">Breitbart</a>.</p>
Voters in a deep-blue state chose to protect sex-based rights and stop minors from receiving gender surgeries, bringing the transgender agenda to a grinding halt. Coloradans have officially passed Proposition 134, “The Protect Girls’ Sports Act,” and Proposition 135, “The Protect Kids From Irreversible Sex-Change Surgery Act,” according to the Associated Press. Both measures passed ...
Newly released surveillance footage shows a heroic security officer taking out a deranged gunman who opened fire at a Florida Citibank campus on Wednesday. Footage released Thursday by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office shows 38-year-old Citibank security officer and Marine Corps veteran John Fraley fatally shooting 35-year-old Jacob Pearson during an attack on the Tampa-area ...
The results in Colorado and Washington were startling due to how reliably blue and LGBTQ-friendly both states have run in recent years.
<p>While Conservatives may be licking their wounds following Tuesday’s defeat, their saving grace proved to be the slew of favorable ballot measure outcomes across the country.</p> The post <a href="https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/11/washington-colorado-vote-to-ban-men-from-womens-sports/">Washington, Colorado Vote to Ban Men from Women’s Sports</a> first appeared on <a href="https://legalinsurrection.com">Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion</a>.