Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington voters approved measures restricting transgender athletes’ participation in school sports. The measures align with a policy priority of the Trump administration.
What Happened
Colorado, Nebraska and Washington placed their measures before voters through ballot initiatives. Arizona’s measure reached the ballot through legislative action.
Arizona’s approved measure broadens existing limits to cover private athletic associations. It also bars schools and athletic organizations from permitting people to use private facilities assigned to a sex different from the sex listed on their original birth certificate.
Colorado’s measure requires athletic teams, from elementary schools through colleges, to be classified as male, female or coeducational. Students must compete based on biological sex under the measure.
Nebraska voters approved a constitutional amendment barring male students from girls’ and women’s athletic teams. Washington’s initiative prohibits transgender girls from participating in girls’ K-12 sports and requires medical documentation to verify eligibility for students seeking places on female teams.
By the Numbers
The four states join a broader set of restrictions nationwide. Ballotpedia reported that 29 states had laws, regulations or interscholastic rules limiting female school-team participation to students of the female sex.
A state interscholastic athletics association reported that it knew of roughly 10 transgender athletes participating statewide each year.