U.S. Supreme Court clears way for Washingtonians to decide issue of transgender athletes

Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling allowing states to bar transgender athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports will not have an immediate impact on Washington policy, its effects will echo throughout the state.

The decision has sparked fear from LGBTQ+ activists who say it’s the latest step by the federal government to erode their protections while putting transgender youth at heightened risk of suicide and other dangers.

But supporters of the ruling have heralded the decision as a needed step to protect girls sports and their right to play on an even playing field.

The decision was made at a politically charged time in the state as voters soon will have the chance to weigh in on the issue at the ballot box.

In a decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court found that the state laws barring transgender athletes’ participating on girls or womens teams do not violate either the 14th Amendment or Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

“The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America,” Kavanaugh wrote in the decision.

Kavanaugh added that the desire for transgender girls and women to compete “warrants respect” and that they should not be “ostracized or vilified.”

The ruling follows a challenge to a law passed by the Idaho Legislature in 2020 that bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports that align with their sexual orientation. Idaho was the first to pass such legislation, and it applies to athletics from elementary school through college.

A year later, West Virginia passed a similar law that bars transgender female athletes from competing in womens and girls sports in public middle schools, high schools and colleges.

Twenty-seven states now have similar laws on the books while regulators in Virginia and Alaska enforce similar bans.

Members of the court unanimously found that the laws do not violate Title IX, which they ruled is limited to “biological sex” discrimination. But the court’s three liberal justices disagreed that the laws do not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, and in her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the challenge to West Virginia’s law should have been litigated further.

While the court ruled that states can enforce laws barring transgender athletes from competing in girls sports, the court did not say they are required to do so. Following the ruling, a collection of state officials said the ruling would change nothing about the rules in Washington.

Of the 250,000 student-athletes, five to 10 are transgender, according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the independent governing body of nearly 800 public and private middle and high schools in Washington.

Currently, student-athletes in Washington can participate in programs “consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed,” according to the WIAA’s handbook. Advisory votes to amend the policy through the representative assembly have failed in each of the last two years.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said in a statement the decision “reinforces Washington state’s ability to adopt and implement our own laws in alignment with our values.”

“Our Legislature has been clear: All students are welcome here,” Reykdal said in a statement.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a prepared statement it was “dismaying that the Court would permit states to discriminate against trans student athletes.”

“This ruling does not change Washington law, and we will continue to uphold the rights and dignity of trans youth,” Brown said.

‘A slap in the face’

A member of the United States Marine Corps for 20 years, Spokane Pride Vice President Kassandra Forsman said Tuesday she “fought for equal rights for everybody to have equal rights.”

“That’s not this,” Forsman said in an interview Tuesday. “This is the opposite of that. So, it’s like a slap in the face for those of us who served.”

Forsman said the decision “basically tells us that we have no protections” and that the “federal government will do nothing for us.” She also fears how the ruling will impact transgender youth throughout the country.

“We don’t have protections. Title IX doesn’t apply to us anymore,” Forsman said. “And if they can take away Title IX, just because, how easy is it going to be for them to take away other protections and rights we have?”

Forsman cited a statistic from The Trevor Project, which found that 36% of LGBTQ+ young people have seriously considered suicide in the past year, including 40% of transgender and nonbinary young people. The rates, she said, drastically increase in states that have restricted transitional care or barred transgender athletes from competing.

Foresman said athletes who have transitioned have been harassed, booed and told they should die.

“It’s no wonder that suicide risks are going up, because when thousands of people are sending direct messages and emails and texts and mentions on social media and everything, and they’re telling you that you should go kill yourself, after a while that starts to get to you,” Forsman said.

‘A step forward’

A critic of transgender girls competing in female sports, Mead High School girls cross country coach Dori Whitford said the ruling was “a step forward.”

“I just have to fight for, not only my girls, but all girls,” Whitford, a longtime coach at the school, said. “It’s pretty bad, when I started running, and I had it a lot better than the kids today. We shouldn’t be going backwards.”

In recent months, she has been vocal about her views and has rallied support for the state to change its laws. In February, Whitford testified in support of a state ballot measure to bar transgender athletes from competing in sports that align with their gender identity. Following the ruling Tuesday, a quote attributed to her was included in a press release sent from Let’s Go Washington, a conservative political action committee that has backed several statewide initiatives in recent years, including one this year on transgender athletes.

Whitford said she doesn’t understand why the issue is so contentious and believes that “80 to 90%” of people share her opinion, but “they’re either too afraid, or it doesn’t affect them, or they don’t understand.”

Whitford said over the past five years, she could think of six transgender athletes her teams have competed against, which she said left her athletes distraught and confused, and struggling to fairly compete.

Still, from the beginning of the interview, Whitford denied the existence of transgender girls.

“Let’s call it what it is: there’s boys in girls sports,” Whitford said. “There’s no such thing as transgender girls.”

An upcoming initiative

Later this year, Washington voters will have their say on the topic when they head to the polls. Residents will vote on IL26-638, which would ban “biologically male” students from competing on girls’ athletic teams hosted or sponsored by K-12 schools or nonprofit organizations.

The measure would also require anyone who wants to compete in athletics for female students to submit documentation from their healthcare provider that verifies the student’s sex.

The initiative qualified after organizers submitted 445,187 signatures to the Washington Secretary of State’s office earlier this year, and the Legislature did not act during the 2026 session.

Hallie Herzberg, a spokesperson for Let’s Go Washington, said in a statement Tuesday that voting yes on the initiative “will protect girls’ sports and confirm once and for all that girls deserve safe and fair access to their sports, spaces, and opportunities.”

Libby Watson, campaign manager for No Hate in Washington State, an organization opposing the initiative, said in a statement the initiative would be the “most extreme proposal of its kind” in the country.

“Its impacts will not just be felt by trans girls, but by every girl in our state who wants to participate in K-12 athletics,” Watson said.

Federal investigations into Washington state policy ongoing

Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the Department of Justice has opened several investigations into school districts and other entities in Washington regarding their policies for transgender student athletes.

In April 2025, the Title IX Special Investigations Team, an initiative between the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice, announced an investigation into the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction into whether it has violated Title IX, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.

The investigation into Washington’s public schools is examining state policy surrounding transgender students’ sports participation, pronoun use and parental notification.

Katy Payne, a spokesperson for OSPI, said Tuesday the investigation is still “open and ongoing” and that the agency has “provided thousands and thousands” of requested documents and records to the U.S. Department of Education over the past 14 months.

“We do not have a timeline from the department of when they will conclude their work,” Payne said Tuesday.

In January, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights launched investigations into 18 school districts, departments of education and universities over allegations the districts violated Title IX by allowing students to participate in sports based on their gender identity. The school districts in Washington under investigation include Tacoma, Sultan, Vancouver and Cheney.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for information regarding the status of the probes Tuesday afternoon.