2026 Washington Initiative IL26-638

Initiative IL26-638 is a Washington ballot initiative proposing to amend state law to prohibit who it defines as "biological males" from competing in some school athletic activities intended for females. Supporters argue this would preserve fair competition and equal athletic opportunity for girls due to the sports-relevant sex differences in human physiology while critics warned it could add intrusive eligibility checks to school physicals and could put students at risk of 'forced outing'.^[3][4][5][6]

On June 2, 2025, the organization Let's Go Washington, led by Brian Haywood, filed the petition with the Washington secretary of state's office.^[7] The petition was cleared to begin gathering signatures on June 13, with it receiving a serial number, ballot title, and ballot summary the same day.^[7] On January 2, 2026, the group submitted 445,187 signatures to be reviewed.^[8] State law requires the Office of the Secretary of State to conduct sample search of 3% of the submitted signatures; signature verification was completed on January 22, and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs notified the legislature on that day.^[9] The state legislature could have approved the measure, rejected it, passed an alternative measure accompanying it, or take no action; if a measure is rejected, or if no action is taken, it is then certified for the ballot.^[9] As the legislature did not act on the measure before its session ended on March 12, 2026, it will appear on the November 3, 2026 ballot.^[7]

The group Let's Go Washington is also backing a measure seeking to rollback changes that the state legislature made in 2025, that changed a parental rights law it had initiated.^[10]

The summary of the ballot measure is as follows:^[11]

This measure would require policies prohibiting students it defines as “biologically male” from competing with or against female students in certain interschool athletic activities that are intended for female students only. Students who choose to participate in such activities must provide a statement from the student’s healthcare provider verifying the student’s biological sex, based on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels. These requirements would apply to individual or team athletic competitions.