Washington voters recently delivered a clear result on girls’ sports. Through Initiative 638, they approved protections for girls on K-12 sports teams by about 56 percent to 44 percent last week. More than 1.25 million Washingtonians voted yes. As RedState reported, the measure’s performance was “the real surprise” of election night.
The result came during a blue-wave election in a state where Democrats control nearly everything. Two other conservative-backed initiatives failed, and Republicans lost several seats in the state Legislature. Even in that environment, voters backed a law barring biological males from competing on K-12 girls’ sports teams.
Apparently, the democratic process works perfectly until voters choose the wrong answer. On Nov. 9, the Seattle School Board voted unanimously to hire lawyers and challenge Initiative 638. Board Director Joe Mizrahi said, “These laws reflect values our communities have fought for and overwhelmingly support,” adding that “we don’t see a way to implement Initiative 638 without violating those vital protections.”
That argument turns the election result upside down. The voters had just demonstrated overwhelming support for protecting girls, yet the board claimed the opposite while preparing to challenge the law. The people most directly affected by the policy are being treated as an afterthought, while officials rush to preserve a system voters rejected.
A day later, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson joined the legal fight. She wrote on X, “I support the Seattle Public Schools Board’s decision to challenge Initiative 638, because every young person in Seattle deserves to thrive as their authentic self.”
Everyone deserves the opportunity to thrive. But that principle becomes rather selective when girls are expected to compete against biological males while officials dismiss the voters who wanted different rules. Wilson’s post drew a fierce response, including from school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis.
“The people already voted to keep boys out of girls’ sports. Why do you hate Democracy, tyrant?” DeAngelis wrote.
Independent journalist Andy Ngo added, “Democrats in Washington state have no problem undermining democracy and civil rights when it suits their ends.”
Another critic wrote, “No kings, Katie,” followed by, “You are a threat to democracy.” A separate response mocked the contradiction of invoking democracy while seeking to overturn a law approved through voting.
The Seattle School Board is not the only group heading to court. The ACLU of Washington, Legal Voice, and Pacifica Law Group filed a separate lawsuit asking a King County judge to block Initiative 638 before it takes effect on Dec. 3. The plaintiffs include the Washington Education Association teachers union, TransFamilies, and several anonymous parents.
That is quite a journey from ballot box to friendly courtroom. Voters pass a law, opponents declare a civil rights crisis, and suddenly a judge is being asked to erase the result before it even takes effect. The initiative’s supporters are not accepting that strategy quietly.
“They want boys in girls’ sports at all costs, and they are willing to undermine democracy to get them there,” said Darren Littell, a spokesman for Let’s Go Washington, the group behind the initiative.
The group also points to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling upholding sex-based sports categories, a decision that gives the challengers a steep legal hill to climb. For years, Democrats warned that democracy itself was on the ballot. In Washington, the ballot produced an answer they disliked, and the response has been to challenge the voters through lawyers and litigation. That is a curious definition of respecting democracy.
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