Organizers to begin gathering signatures for two new initiatives

The group that successfully gathered enough signatures to present six initiatives to the Legislature during the 2024 session will soon collect signatures for two new initiatives.

Let’s Go Washington announced Monday it will begin signature collections on initiatives to bar transgender girls’ athletes from competing in girls’ sports and undo changes the Legislature made this year to the previously adopted “parental bills of rights.”

Under Washington law, each initiative needs at least 308,911 verified signatures in the coming months to be certified.

If organizers gather enough signatures, both initiatives would be presented during the upcoming session to state lawmakers, who could then choose to either adopt them, reject them or ignore them. If legislators reject the measures or decline to act, they will then go before voters on the 2026 general election ballot.

The group previously gathered enough signatures for a “parental bill of rights” ahead of the 2024 session, a proposal that guaranteed guardians access to school records and set requirements for information schools must provide.

The proposal was overwhelmingly adopted by both legislative chambers and signed into law. However, this year, Democratic lawmakers overhauled the initiative, which they said was necessary to bring it into compliance with existing state and federal laws.

In a statement Monday, founder Brian Heywood said the previously adopted parental bill of rights was a “clear message” from voters “that they don’t want schools to keep secrets from parents.”

“This year, the legislature gutted that law and stripped the right of parents to be informed. We don’t co-parent with the government,” Heywood said. “No government employee can care about or love your child like you do.”

The group will also push an initiative that would block transgender female athletes from competing in female sports, an issue that has seen heightened interest during the Trump administration. In February, Trump signed an executive order that sought to ban transgender students from competing in women’s and girls’ sports in K-12 schools.

The executive order threatens to withhold federal funding from states that allow transgender athletes to compete in female sports. Trump added that schools that violate the executive order could be investigated for violation of Title IX, a wide-ranging federal policy that bans discrimination based on sex in education.

Student-athletes in Washington can currently participate in programs “consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed,” according to the WIAA’s handbook.

“This is an issue of creating fair play for all student athletes. Young women deserve every opportunity to be successful in their athletic endeavors,” Heywood said in a statement. “We are appalled that the state has adopted an ideology that says all their hard work is meaningless.”

Washington Families for Freedom, which includes the ACLU of Washington, Greater Seattle Business Association, Gender Justice League and Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, has been organized to oppose both initiatives.

“These divisive initiatives are designed to pit parents against schools, and communities against each other. These tactics are out of step with Washington’s values and distract from the real issues students face every day,” Courtney Normand, state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said in a statement. “We will not tolerate this. We will keep fighting for schools that are inclusive, safe, and center the well-being of every student.”