The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association did not pass a transgender student-athlete ban for the second year in a row.
According to Cascadia Daily, a WIAA amendment needs 60% of the votes to pass, but the governing body’s gender participation amendment only received 29 votes in favor, two less than last year’s vote.
Related: Washington Association Proposes Separating Transgender HS Sports in 2025
The gender participation amendment would have restricted girls’ sports to “only students whose biological sex is female,” and created an “open” category for boys sports for any student-athlete who wished to compete. Per the amendment, competition decisions would be made by birth certificates or “affidavits from a licensed physician.”
Lynden School District brought the proposal to the WIAA, saying school administrators are “put in difficult positions when there is strong, impassioned advocacy coming from two competing directions.”
Despite attempting a vote to ban transgender student-athletes from girls’ sports, the WIAA admitted that even if the amendment had been passed, it would not have been implemented as it violates Washington state law.
“The intentions driving the pursuit of these changes is twofold: one, working to accomplish protections against the vitriol that has been directed at our most marginalized and vulnerable student-athletes while at athletic competitions,” said Lynden School District superintendent David VanderYacht. “… And secondly, to address the competitive fairness and opportunity in girls’ athletics.”
