by Jerry Cornfield and Aspen Ford, Washington State Standard
February 4, 2026
Dori Whitford says she will travel anywhere to talk about the importance of keeping transgender athletes out of girls’ sports in Washington state.
On Tuesday, this brought her to Olympia, where the Mead High School track and cross country coach told a panel of Republican state lawmakers her “girls are suffering” and voters need to approve an initiative that will be on ballots in November to prevent transgender athletes from playing girls’ sports.
“I want to give voice to people, including other coaches, who feel they cannot speak,” she said afterward.
Whitford was among more than 100 people who took part in an afternoon rally and back-to-back “listening sessions” on a pair of ballot measures — one concerning trans athletes and the other parental rights.
The trio of events was in direct response to Democratic legislative leaders’ refusal to hold public hearings on either measure.
The secretary of state notified lawmakers last month that certification of both had been completed. At that point, legislative leaders could schedule public hearings on one or both of the initiatives and then consider adopting them.
But Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pederson, D-Seattle, and House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, made it clear in January that the proposals would not get votes in either chamber.
Whitford, like everyone else at the event sponsored by Senate Republicans, understood she would only be speaking to fellow supporters.
“I am not disappointed for coming over,” Whitford said. “Am I disappointed that there wasn’t more representation of views? Yes. I don’t understand why.”
What the initiatives would do
The conservative political committee Let’s Go Washington turned in 418,666 signatures for IL26-001 focused on parental rights and 444,434 signatures for IL26-638 to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
While bans on transgender athletes have been enacted in more than two dozen states, this appears to be the first time such a prohibition is on track to be decided by voters.
Frances Staudt, a junior at Tumwater High School, said she sat out of a basketball game for fear of safety because a player on the opposing team was a trans girl.
“Biological men do have an advantage over women,” she told those gathered on the steps of the Capitol. “They are stealing trophies from women who have dedicated their lives to earning them.”
The parental rights measure looks to restore the language of the 2024 initiative from Let’s Go Washington, known as the parental “bill of rights.”
The Legislature adopted that initiative rather than let it go to the ballot. Then, last year, majority Democrats rewrote it, citing a cache of problematic provisions. What emerged, House Bill 1296, was one of the most fiercely contested bills of the session.
Let’s Go Washington, founded and led by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, came up with IL26-001 to repeal the rewrite.
The goal of the 2024 initiative was to ensure parents have easy access to school materials, their child’s medical records and immediate notification if a child is involved in a crime. One of the major changes in last year’s legislation removed parental access to medical records.
Opposition campaign emerging
On Monday, initiative opponents spoke with reporters on Zoom to discuss the flaws in each ballot measure. Much of the conversation centered on how the measure concerning athletes would harm transgender youth and how, in their view, it’s likely unconstitutional.
If passed, female students wishing to compete in sports would need their biological sex verified by a health care provider. Opponents say the state Supreme Court would find this unconstitutional because it is an unnecessary invasion of privacy.
Initiative backers counter that physical exams are already a prerequisite to compete on a school sports team, and that will provide the information on one’s gender.
“What we’re seeing is truly hatred,” said Danni Askini, executive director of the Seattle-based advocacy group Gender Justice League. “Trans people don’t have a lobby, they don’t have the ability to really fight back and so they make a very easy target.”
Making the case
House and Senate Republicans, in concert with Let’s Go Washington, organized Tuesday’s two listening sessions. At each one, a steady stream of students, parents, coaches and activists made their case for one or both measures.
The most impassioned comments came from those endorsing the measure to keep trans athletes out of girls’ sports.
“We can protect all kids, including those gender non-conforming kids, by welcoming those feminine boys into boy sports and welcoming those masculine little girls into girls’ sports. That is real inclusion,” said Lauren Leggieri, a lesbian and co-executive director of LGB Courage Coalition.
“This initiative offers a human alternative,” she said. “Girls’ sports remain protected, and we are not telling boys that they have to medicalize their bodies to make policy work.”
GOP lawmakers invited opponents of the measure to participate. None showed up.
House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, said among those contacted were Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and representatives of the Washington Education Association, the statewide teachers’ union, Gender Justice League, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the state Democratic Party, Northwest Progressive Institute and Service Employees International Union 775, the statewide union for caregivers.
Andrew Villeneuve, founder of Northwest Progressive Institute, said he could not attend because he was out of state.
He said he appreciated Republican legislators reaching out to opponents, but if they are serious about listening to the people — and want any shot at winning in future elections — they need to “instigate a culture change” within their own party.
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