Seattle Times: Why you should vote 'no' on I-638, banning transgender girls from school sports

[u/MetalDragon2]

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/vote-no-on-i-638-defending-equity-in-interscholastic-sports-act/

We are a few of the more than 100 Washington pediatricians, family doctors and nurses who oppose I-638’s new sex inspection requirements. The initiative is a government mandate forcing us to conduct medically unnecessary and potentially harmful tests on elementary, middle and high school girls. This includes genital exams, and genetic or hormone tests, as a new part of sports physicals. 
I-638, officially known as the Defending Equity in Interscholastic Sports Act, is part of a coordinated and thinly veiled political attack on all girls, not just vulnerable transgender children. As The Seattle Times editorial board wrote in their opposition to I-638 : it “would send Washington back to the days of ‘femininity certificates,’ when amateur women athletes, including Olympic athletes, had to carry proof that they had passed visual exams and chromosome testing that proved they were women.”

Under I-638, sponsored by MAGA megadonor Brian Heywood’s Let’s Go Washington, any girl from elementary to high school who wants to play sports would be forced to provide medically verified proof of their sex as a new part of sports physicals just for girls. Boys are exempt. It prohibits parents from using birth certificates, and Section 3(2)) states that, to be in compliance, doctors must subject girls to examinations of their “reproductive organs,” or make parents pay for expensive genetic or hormone testing. Insurance will likely not pay for these expensive genetic and hormone tests because they are not medically necessary to diagnose, treat or manage a specific health condition.

Washington students currently remain fully clothed during sports readiness exams, and exams focus on cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and neurologic systems. But I-638 would change that, potentially even requiring pelvic exams, which are medically unnecessary for sports, and can emotionally and physically harm young girls. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there is no medical reason for a pelvic exam for girls younger than 21, unless the patient has other health concerns. 

The initiative is so poorly written that its sponsors have even said they wish they had written an initiative with more clarity on how it would be implemented. There is no explanation of when and how the government will enforce these rules, who can conduct sex inspections or what evidence will be required during genital, hormone or genetic tests. It could be used to demand that girls as young as kindergarten or girls who participate in nonathletic activities like e-sports prove their sex to a stranger. I-638 is clear about only one thing: The government gets to make personal decisions for our patients and their parents.

Nearly 150,000 school-age girls across Washington state do not have a regular doctor — this is especially true for low-income, rural and immigrant girls, and girls of color — and would be subject to genital examinations by strangers. The American Academy of Family Physicians says sports physicals should take place “not in a group setting,” but many families depend on free large group sports physicalswhere girls could face greater embarrassment and trauma from invasive genital inspections. 

By requiring girls to undergo invasive inspections, I-638 would decrease participation, robbing girls of the physical, social and emotional benefits that sports provide. More than half of teenagers experience anxiety or depression. In the midst of a youth mental health crisis, the last thing we should do is put up barriers to healthy and social activities.
I-638 would force us to violate an ethical code to do no harm to our patients. That’s why we are joining the WA State PTA, WA State Nurses Association, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, the League of Women Voters, and thousands of parents and teachers across the state in urging voters to vote No on I-638.

Grace Shih: MD, is a physician, reproductive health specialist and professor in the Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington.
Glenna Martin: MD, MPH is a family physician in Seattle. She sits on the board of Pro Choice Washington.
Caitlin Blau: DO, is a family physician in Bellingham.
Sam Doyle: ARNP, is a nurse practitioner at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and a UW teaching associate of Medicine and Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

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[u/spoinkable]

Boys are exempt.

The initiative is so poorly written that its sponsors have even said they wish they had written an initiative with more clarity on how it would be implemented. There is no explanation of when and how the government will enforce these rules, who can conduct sex inspections or what evidence will be required during genital, hormone, or genetic tests.

Nearly 150,000 school-age girls across Washington State do not have a regular doctor -- this is especially true for low-income, rural and immigrant girls, and girls of color -- and would be subject to genital examinations by strangers.

In the midst of a youth mental health crisis, the last thing we should do is put up barriers to healthy and social activities.

These are all great points that I either haven't heard yet or hadn't realized. Thank you for this write-up.

[u/blue-bird1978 → u/spoinkable]

This. Who will inspect the genitals of these girls?! Of course the boys don’t have to go through this vulnerable process. It’s sick.

[u/basane-n-anders → u/blue-bird1978]

Current medical guidelines now suggest delaying penetrative gynecological exam until adulthood unless there is a specific concern that warrants a more invasive exam. So most girls will not experience a gynecological exam until they are 18 and this Initiative changes that and will violate these your girls for no legitimate reason.

[u/SpeaksSouthern → u/basane-n-anders]

Republicans are completely fucking weird. Anyone I see supporting this, I instantly know they hate human life. Mandating intensive gyno exams on children is extremely fucking weird.

[u/tetranordeh → u/basane-n-anders]

21 years is actually when most women have their first pelvic exam.

[u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23]

Absolutely no way would I let my kids play sports in state that mandates a physical inspection of their genitalia. This is how people like Larry Nassir get their hands in hundreds of kids.

Disgusting.

[u/jvolkman → u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23]

Here's what the bill actually says (with the critical section in bold):

A student who elects to participate in individual or team competition activities intended for female students only governed under subsection (1) of this section shall provide, as part of the required routine sports physical examination, a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student's personal health care provider that verifies the student's biological sex, relying only on one or more of the following: The student's reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.

The authors of this bill are idiots and left themselves wide open to this line of attack. I assume it will be back next time with that first option removed.

[u/boringnamehere → u/jvolkman]

That will still make it expensive for girls to compete. It’s a ridiculous initiative.

[u/MissMouthy1 → u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23]

That's what they want. To shut down girls sports. This will stop many girls from participating in sports.

[u/lesrallizesendnudes → u/MissMouthy1]

more broadly it’s part of a campaign to manufacture consent to eradicate trans folks before they move on to other minorities

[u/Vexed-Rainbow → u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23]

The insanity is people aren’t pushing for reviews of systems that put these coaches, doctors, and other staff into programs with minors and young adults. There’s the harm.

[u/plantverdant → u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23]

I wouldn't let my daughter play either. I know my parents wouldn't have let me play if a genital inspection was required - sports were a big part of my childhood and I learned a lot from being on a team.

[u/ZehrenSiegehammer]

Frankly this measure just gives creeps a legal right to be creeps to kids with these inspections. 

[u/PepperoniFire → u/ZehrenSiegehammer]

Party of Epstein wants the state to touch little girls, news at 11.

[u/StealToadBootes]

Hell yes. Vote no. This whole premise is stupid fear mongering to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

[u/Pooseycat]

People need to read the voter guide info on this measure, it’s disgusting. It subjects only girls (not boys) to invasive and costly exams. They consistently refer to boys as “males” and girls as girls, it’s so clear the marketing they are pushing. And subjecting thousands of girls to a medical invasion of privacy for why? To prevent like 10 kids from competing? Absolutely absurd.

We don’t protect our people by terrorizing our people. VOTE NO.

[u/MeatCatRazzmatazz]

Just a reminder that all this furor is over around 10 or 15 trans kids in the entire state who want to play sports.

Millions spent radicalizing people against 10 children who just want to play with their friends.

[u/rora_borealis → u/MeatCatRazzmatazz]

I heard that some of the ones they initially flagged were staff and mascots rather than players. Was this with or without those included?

[u/MAHHockey → u/MeatCatRazzmatazz]

But... But... What about fairness in women's sports!? That half my Facebook account was dedicated to mocking as irrelevant DEI!?... /s

[u/solk512]

I’ve seen so many Redditors claim that “it’s no different from any other required medical exam” and honestly I think those folks need to have their hard drives turned over to the FBI. 

[u/Dependent-Day-1862 → u/solk512]

They just listen to their propaganda and will refuse to believe anything else even when proven wrong

[u/MisterIceGuy → u/solk512]

Every physical exam I’ve had since I was a kid they look at my dick and balls, is that unusual?

[u/InfernoBA → u/MisterIceGuy]

Same here when I was growing up in California; we would have to get a physical done before joining the school sports teams, which would always involve the ol’ nut tap

[u/sdvneuro → u/InfernoBA]

When I was growing up in California I had no such physical done for playing school sports.

[u/xarune → u/solk512]

I think this law is dumb as hell.

But I also remember, as a boy, going through "turn your head and cough" for sports physicals in my earlier years. These may have been coupled with annual exams. So their uneducated stance is "what's the big deal, I had to do this".

I think the practice is now considered outdated and uncessary, rightfully so. I also don't remember ever hearing about an equivalent for women for sports physicals.

[u/round-earth-theory → u/xarune]

School sports already has yearly physical requirements in order to participate. So the structure is already there for a professional to do the exam. But here's my take. Why the fuck does the government care? Why should the government care what the arrangement of kids are participating in sports are? Coed sports already work just fine, women's school sports will be just fine too. No one gives a fuck who set the women's 100 meter dash record in a random highschool 20 years ago. It's certainly not a government concern.

[u/xarune → u/round-earth-theory]

As I said, I think this ballot measure is stupid. And I'll further clarify that it's stupid for feeling the need to so strictly segregate the sports on gender, and horrendous in the form of enforcement. It's high school sports and I don't care who wins the state championship or has the 100m record. The benefit should be allowing kids, all kids, to paticipate, compete, and learn.

I can certainly understand why all sports are not co-ed, as an adult who has continued to do competitive sport: the women do prefer to have their own race time away from the men. But they also run the non-binary race at the same time and no one cares. I don't think the tiny number of trans girls in school athletics should really determine any policy. So I completely agree with you that the government really shouldn't care. Though I think more competitive sports will remain largely split.

My only statement was that some people, at least men, in the past definitely had their bits touched during sports physicals: the process that was mandatory to participate. So people havbe gone through that in that past, but we have thankfully moved on from requiring that. That is why some of these people are, incorrectly, saying "what's the big deal, I had to go through this" when they misunderstand how burdonsome and invasive this process would actually be.

[u/round-earth-theory → u/xarune]

Doctors still ask if they can look/check private parts now. Especially for girls who have a whole field dedicated their parts, gynecology. I don't think there would be a lot of functional changes from today, but the emotional changes would be severe. Still, there's no benefit gained by making it a government issue. For any sort of safety concerns, coaches already monitor and bench dangerous players. Kids come in all sizes.

As to professional sports, they can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. If they want to have a MAGA sports league that has full frontal nude cards of their players, then go for it. They'd probably have a hard time finding players/viewers but they're allowed to try.

[u/SpeaksSouthern → u/xarune]

I had prepared myself for the turn your head and cough thing but my doctor at the time put his hands well above my crotch and tested. I didn't have to take my pants off or show any parts of my privates. When I said to him I thought it was more invasive he laughed and said there's no medical value to involving the crotch for this test.

I can only apologize for the generation that had to do this, but if your doctor touched below the belt or make you take off your pants there was no medical value to what they asked you to do. Get a better doctor.

[u/xarune → u/SpeaksSouthern]

I haven't been asked to do it in 20 years. So I assume it has gone by the wayside as a standard practice. I seem to remember being surprised my last couple years of high school sports physicals when they stopped asking, just because I knew the awkward was coming.

But medical best practices are getting better all the time, so I don't really judge it against the doctors back then it it was indeed required on the physical form or by professional guidance.

It really seems to not be necessary by default today, which is the most important part.

[u/snukb → u/xarune]

It's the same as when men loudly complain about trans women in women's toilets or trans women in women's locker rooms. They remember the high school locker rooms of their youth, with no stalls and a big communal shower. They experience daily the communal urinals and sometimes door less stalls in the men's public bathrooms. They imagine the women's is the same.

Every women's locker room I've ever been in my whole life has had changing stalls or sometimes even locking cubicles, and individual shower stalls too. I've never seen a communal shower area except directly outside the pool where you just rinse yourself off before and after in your swimsuit. Women's bathrooms don't have the equivalent of a urinal, and if there's a stall without a door women are not using it.

They project their personal experiences, and assume it's the same across the aisle, and protest loudly. But it's not. No one sees anyone peeing in a women's bathroom unless you're peeking through the stall gaps (which shouldn't even exist). If you're changing outside the stalls in a women's locker room, you're probably going to get people deliberately trying not to look at you because it's weird. We don't have the equivalent of the old men walking around buck ass nude casually chatting sports in women's locker rooms

And no, for people born with a vulva and vagina, a standard sports exam does not involve the genitals whatsoever.

[u/Whole-Buy-7842]

Even if you were anti-trans athletes, why wouldn't a birth certificate be a valid document?

[u/AnotherWeabooGirl → u/Whole-Buy-7842]

WA allows birth certificate sex marker to be amended just like state ID.

[u/Chief_Mischief → u/AnotherWeabooGirl]

This is 100% my ignorance and without malicious intent; Is that recent? I'm curious if this is reacting to conservatives trying to disenfranchise voters whose assigned sex at birth doesnt match their current sex or not. Otherwise I dont follow why amending the birth certificate years after is doing anything besides changing objective truth. If someone is trans, it doesnt erase the sex they were born with. I can see info to change the markers on WA DOH site, but I don't see a why here so I have an understanding gap i would like to fill.

Would someone be patient and willing enough to add some wrinkles into this smooth brain of mine?

[u/notoriousrdc → u/Chief_Mischief]

It's not super recent. People can also have their birth certificates changed when they legally change their names and when they're adopted.

A birth certificate in the U.S. is a legal document that serves several functions. It's not an unchanging snapshot of the exact conditions at the time of someone's birth, and it is a huge hassle when the name, parentage, or sex on your birth certificate does not match your current legal name/parentage/sex.

[u/Chief_Mischief → u/notoriousrdc]

Thanks for pointing this out. I've been mulling over changing my own legal name and didnt even know changing the birth certificate was an option. I can see why it would be a hassle if the birth certificate is constantly compared against other forms of current ID to authenticate people

[u/Sligstata → u/Chief_Mischief]

Basic answer - It helps a multitude of things when signing up for services, document replacement etc

Complicated answer - sex as we define it is nothing more than a word to describe what we THINK is the collection of organs inside a person. Taking HRT(estrogen or testosterone) the body immediately starts operating as if that hormone was natural to the body and without question. This is starkly different than when you think of a transplant of an organ where you need to take medication to stop the body from rejecting it. As far as the human body is concerned it is “female”, so much so that if you are doing injections for estrogen the body stops producing testosterone. So when it comes to medical treatment for trans individuals their bodies need treated towards their dominant hormone and not their sex assigned at birth due to how chemicals in medication reacts with those hormones.

The recent spike in controversy around trans people has muddied the water horribly with talking about the actual science happening in our bodies. Sex isn’t an immutable trait and something that can change easily by taking the opposite hormone. The only reason things like bone density doesn’t change is because most of the time the hormones are changed after the body has made those changes.

[u/Chief_Mischief → u/Sligstata]

Thank you for the extensive answer.

Not that it excuses anything, but I grew up in conservative suburbia so my exposure to LGBTQ+ communities was non-existent until I moved here, and it's sometimes difficult to ask questions without offending people or being expected to know enough about it myself while simultaneously unlearning my past views and relearning new ones, which often takes some time to mentally process. I'm going to take some time to read and digest your comment before responding as needed.

Again, thank you, the response is greatly appreciated.

[u/rora_borealis → u/Chief_Mischief]

If you approach it in a non-defensive manner, with humility, it usually goes quite well... in person. But it's a lot harder to get the nuances across in text. I reread everything I write to see if it could be ambiguous or easily misinterpreted. 

It's hard to get away from the assumptions and frameworks that were installed in us before we had a chance to argue about it. Give yourself and others some grace and be open. Which it sounds like you're trying to do.

I was raised in a conservative xtian cult. The deconstruction took a long while.

[u/Sligstata → u/Chief_Mischief]

I don’t expect anyone to know this info if they aren’t trans themselves and we all have to start somewhere with our knowledge. There is just a coordinated campaign to not talk about the science and instead just hate. We aren’t born hating there are just some people who are only exposed to one set of voices.

[u/everyoneisadj → u/Chief_Mischief]

I can tell you’re asking in good faith, and I appreciate that you’re doing the work. One small tip for next time, offered in the same patient spirit you asked for: when you’re looking to learn about something, try leaving your current take out of the question.
 
A line like “I don’t follow why amending the birth certificate is doing anything besides changing objective truth” frames the answer before anyone gives it. It can come across as arguing a position, especially since plenty of people use “genuinely asking” as cover for that. You’re clearly not one of them, but people can only go by the words on the screen, so a more open question tends to get you better answers and less defensiveness.

[u/Gold_Ad8225 → u/Whole-Buy-7842]

I am opposed to the ban, I'm just explaining the rationale of the bigots who support it.

They've become aware of the fact that trans people are able to change their birth certificates when they transition. Something trans people fought for for quite some time, which is important and necessary to grant them legal protections, including in cases like this.

[u/KestrelTank → u/Whole-Buy-7842]

I think it’s because you can have it amended

[u/hamster1138 → u/Whole-Buy-7842]

washington lets you change the sex marker on your birth certificate (which is a good thing tbc)

[u/stonerism → u/Whole-Buy-7842]

Not every student is going to have a birth certificate readily available. Sometimes it could have been destroyed or there just might be a typo. Why should that prevent a child from playing in good faith?

[u/act1856 → u/Whole-Buy-7842]

Cause that’s not invasive or humiliating enough.

[u/mumushu]

The same people going after trans kids (Heritage Foundation) want to end Title IX and funding for any women’s sports

[u/inthesegreywaves]

personally ive begun emulating El-Sayed when it comes to the people who want to "debate" these things

[u/Inevitable_Engine186 → u/inthesegreywaves]

100%, he's really modeling how to respond to bad faith MAGA attacks.

[u/inthesegreywaves → u/Inevitable_Engine186]

absoulutely. ive been dying for years to get someone like him who is, frankly, willing to publicly and loudly call a spade a spade. between him and mamdani, i am really hopeful that there will be a wave of new, younger blood in politics- as long as we make it through whatever the fuck is going on in the world right now, at least.

[u/Capital_Spite9272 → u/inthesegreywaves]

Been saying this for years, if Democrats started talking like human beings they would sweep the elections. The highly rehearsed/focus grouped speeches sound so inauthentic now. Confront Republicans directly on their bs and get in the muck with them, taking the high road clearly doesn't work.

[u/CookedBlackBird → u/inthesegreywaves]

What does that mean?

[u/inthesegreywaves → u/CookedBlackBird]

it means that whenever someone tries that nonsense with me i ask whether or not theyre circumcised

(context)

[u/SpeaksSouthern → u/inthesegreywaves]

"that's wacky" like could he have prepared less for that response lol

[u/paholg → u/inthesegreywaves]

The context is helpful, but why link to a video that plays his quote for 2 seconds then spends the rest spewing right wing garbage?

[u/Dependent-Day-1862 → u/inthesegreywaves]

He is such a great speaker. Really refreshing to see in todays world

[u/inthesegreywaves → u/Dependent-Day-1862]

i have to admit that i am biased towards both him and mamdani for this reason. im a linguist, and seeing communication in such poor from our leaders for such a long time has been... trying.

[u/apathy-sofa → u/inthesegreywaves]

Does linguistics concern rhetoric? 

[u/inthesegreywaves → u/apathy-sofa]

i imagine it varies slightly from school to school, but in general, yes. even during my time as an undergraduate, i was required to take a few courses that specifically focused on rhetoric.

rhetoric as a field probably encompasses a lot more than you think. the professor for one of my rhetoric courses put some of my classmates on the path to becoming UI/UX designers.

[u/01headshrinker → u/inthesegreywaves]

El Sayed is also outstanding responding to the “gotcha” questions about Hassan Piker they keep bringing up to him.

[u/BonjaminClay → u/01headshrinker]

Them trying to turn a random streamer into a major boogie man is one of the wildest strategies they've had yet. They just keep posting pictures of his schmeat and being like "you agree with this?!" and he's not even running for anything.

[u/enkonta → u/BonjaminClay]

Not really...He's not a random streamer...he's a specific person AES invited to campaign with during the primaries..no different than Trump and Nick Fuentes

[u/WebHistorical1121]

If Let’s Go Washington is pushing it you know it’s for pedophiles and criminals

[u/ddrober2003]

This whole law they want to pass just gives me the impression of some pedos wanting a legal excuse to get handsy with little girls. Or at best, to humiliate them first before they can play a game.

[u/curatedcliffside]

A requirement like this would’ve stopped me from joining a sport in high school. I was an out-of-shape nerd and did it for the PE credit. No way girls like me will jump through a creepy hoop just for the privilege of exercising. And that would be a shame.

[u/debbilsavocado]

it’s honestly insane how easy it is for people to fall for this culture war bullshit so long as the people being othered don’t look like them

[u/YoshiTheDog420]

What a fuckin waste of all our time

[u/squidfreud]

Personally, I'll be voting "no" on this proposal because I'm not a total fucking moron.

[u/External_Grand9893]

The level this would be abused is unconscionable. Think about every psycho parent in girls sports wanting “a check” on the other teams best player to either humiliate her and her family or scare them into not playing to avoid such a disgusting practice of checking gender. Do not put it past these parents either. The trans concern is a veil. This is an attempt to scare girls out of sports and it will be abused by competitive parents

[u/neverenoughteacups → u/External_Grand9893]

As a teen I used to ref youth soccer (in the 2010s) and holy shit the way some coaches/parents of like 9 year old girls club soccer acted… absolutely insane. Your comment just gave me flashbacks. 🫠

[u/shitpostcatapult]

I will be voting no on I-638. Thank you for speaking up.

[u/MarMarBinxxx]

This whole initiative is fucked for a myriad of reasons, but I think it’s especially ridiculous that pre-pubescent girls are even included here. Girls and boys are more or less evenly matched physically until the beginning of the teenage years, with boys on average only having a minor advantage in upper/lower body strength (17% and 8% respectively between ages 5-10).

This is purely anecdotal, but I was faster and stronger than every boy my age on my block until around middle school. It’s likely due in part to my dad putting me in sports early and encouraging me to want to be strong. The activities girls are socialized to partake in are usually not ideal for building muscle or endurance. I think that if we stopped nerfing little girls and let them rip and run and be strong the way we do boys, this gap would be even more negligible at this age or may not even exist.

[u/sarhoshamiral]

Any initiative is an automatic no for me unless it is backed by an actual bill that was discussed. This type of democracy doesnt work anymore when the voter base can easily be misled and we have no transparency rules.

[u/AnAncientBog]

I feel bad for anyone that needed to think about whether or not to require girls to show their genitals to weirdos in order to play sports.

[u/reverendexile]

As a straight cis white man... This shit is so fucked up.

Why can't people just let other people be people?

[u/micro_pigeon]

Republicans obsession with (kids) genitals is so fucking disturbing.

[u/Dependent-Day-1862]

Vote no on all 3. Im cautiously optimistic this will fail but will be the closest result of the 3 initiatives.

[u/Positive-Turn6642]

I started thinking this initiative was a bunch of the usual right wing reactionary culture war nonsense but now I feel it’s downright dangerous.

MANY predators who are healthcare providers have used PELVIC EXAMS as a way to abuse their female patients. This basically writes into law an unnecessary pelvic exam. This is flippin’ dangerous. Trans kids in sports aren’t dangerous. If one girl is assaulted under this law…just not okay.

[u/Red-little]

This is just disgusting. In no lifetime is a stranger of ANY KIND getting LEGAL permission to look at my daughters genitals???? What the fuck???

No. There is absolutely no argument, whether it relates to trans children or not, that would justify this. Absolutely nothing.

[u/walrustaskforce]

I worry that if this passes, it wouldn’t be long before some parents would begin demanding independent, 3rd-party genital inspections the instant their daughters lose to some other girl who is just more capable.

Like, “you beat my little girl at soccer, and despite presenting as female in every conceivable fashion, because you beat my little girl, here’s your court-ordered sexual assault!”

There is zero doubt in my mind that we’d see legal battles to “independently” verify gender, justified only on “my Sally is so good at sports that only a cheater could beat her!”

[u/TestApprehensive3429]

This is so horrific and vile. I can’t believe I live in a time where this is even a debate

[u/queensheba2025]

I’ll be voting NO.

[u/mulletstation]

Kind of crazy how republicans found the perfect unifying message for their side and the perfect wedge issue for the Dems side to split and cause chaos

[u/EdgyPun34257 → u/mulletstation]

Almost like it's something the vast majority agree about regardless of party.

[u/boishan → u/EdgyPun34257]

Or it’s because a large scale  ruckus is being made that is mostly explicit lies that affect a literal handful of people. How many people knew that groups like the NCAA already had standards in place for trans women to compete fairly? Actual science based standards not bible thumping ones.

[u/Ok_Security1721]

I voted No cuz I just hate the idea of any blanket ban on trans athletes when it should really be something far more nuanced and on a sport by sport consideration. Track is one thing, boxing is another.

Besides girls, and only girls, going through all that extra scrutiny over their vaginas and all

[u/luri7555]

I voted no because I think schools should govern their sports.

[u/luminescent]

This issue should be handled via sensible rule-making at the level of sports organizational bodies, not by mandating gender inspection at the state level.

[u/SuperMike100]

As much as I support fairness in girls’ sports, I cannot support an initiative that uses it as an excuse for measures that are known to be greatly harmful to those involved.

[u/Oolon42]

Because it's invasive, gross, and creepy?