How proposals addressing Washington high school transgender athlete participation fared

Jon Manley, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) on Apr 21, 2025

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TACOMA, Wash. — Two amendments aimed at making changes to participation eligibility for transgender high school student-athletes in Washington failed.

In a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association vote by its representative assembly last week, both measures fell short of the 60% threshold needed to pass. The results of the vote were issued Monday.

The WIAA recently made both amendments “advisory votes only,” as they didn’t align with Washington state law. So even if either amendment had passed, it wouldn’t have immediately gone into effect during the 2025-26 school year.

One of the amendments, which pertains to both middle school and high school participation in the state, came close to passing. The other did not.

Amendment No. 7 came close, garnering 31 “yes” votes and 22 “no” votes, putting it at 58.5%, just shy of the 60% needed to pass. It would have required participation in girls’ sports be limited to people born biologically female and would have required transgender athletes who were born biologically male to compete in the “boys/open” division.

Amendment No. 8, which would have created a separate division for transgender athletes, in addition to the existing boys and girls divisions, received 24.5% “yes” votes. It also needed 60% support to pass.

“Despite the failure of ML/HS #7 and ML/HS #8, the Association’s message remains clear: The WIAA remains committed to following Washington state law and will continue to do so moving forward,” a statement from the WIAA read. “If state law changes in the future, the WIAA Executive Board holds the authority to revise policies accordingly—and now has input from the membership on how to proceed in that event, while remaining in compliance with state law.”

The WIAA has a policy allowing students to compete in the division of the gender they “most consistently expressed.”

Washington has a state law preventing discrimination in the state’s public schools, which includes transgender identity as a protected class.

The transgender-athlete issue gained steam again in Washington after a transgender athlete won an event at the high school state track and field championships at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma last spring. Calls for change have grown louder recently with growing sentiment that biological males shouldn’t be allowed to compete against biological girls.

Some school districts, such as the Lynden School District, have been vocal about change.

“Lynden believes WIAA’s current gender participation policy is unworkable and wants to be part of finding a path that is workable,” said Lynden School District Superintendent David VanderYacht in a statement to The Bellingham Herald last week.

“The spirit of the work has been to navigate this complicated and sensitive issue in a manner that honors and respects the dignity of all children,” VanderYacht told The Herald. “We want all students to have opportunity for participation in athletics, but we also think there is an unfair competitive advantage in girls’ sports for transgender females who have gone through male puberty.”

Despite the failure of both amendments, it’s likely some form of Amendment No. 7, whether identical or tweaked, will be on the ballot again next spring. Several amendments were passed this spring, including the official sanctioning of girls flag football as a WIAA sport and loosening of the existing transfer rules.

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