A statewide measure on the Nov. 3 ballot would change how every girl at Bellevue High, Newport, Interlake and Sammamish qualifies for school sports.

Initiative 638, the Washington Sex Verification Requirements for Female School Sports Initiative, would bar transgender girls from competing on girls' teams.

It would also require every female student-athlete in kindergarten through 12th grade to have her birth sex verified by a doctor before she can play.

The measure gained fresh attention after Tumwater High School senior Frances Staudt, 17, appeared on KIRO Newsradio's John Curley Show on Monday, Sept. 7, to advocate for I-638.

Staudt sat out a February 2024 basketball game rather than compete against a team with a transgender player. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and her school district later investigated her for harassment.

"That one athlete affected my whole team," Staudt told KIRO. "He affected my whole locker room. He affected a roster spot on their team. One athlete is one too many."

What would change for Bellevue athletes

All four Bellevue School District high schools compete under WIAA rules in the KingCo Conference. Bellevue High, Interlake and Sammamish play at the 3A classification. Newport competes at 4A, according to the KingCo handbook.

Under current WIAA policy, transgender students have been allowed to compete in line with their gender identity since 2007. Sports clearance forms do not require sex verification. That checkbox was removed in 2019, KUOW reported.

If voters approve I-638, every girl trying out for a team at those four schools would need a doctor's sign-off verifying her birth sex.

That verification could involve review of reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup or testosterone levels, according to the initiative's voter pamphlet text.

Justin Kesterson, WIAA assistant executive director, told KUOW the organization would need "broader conversations with other entities" and with "medical professionals across the state" to determine what the verification process would look like.

The numbers

The WIAA is aware of roughly 10 out transgender middle and high school athletes among more than 200,000 student-athletes statewide, according to The 19th.

Opponents say the measure's verification requirement would affect all girls, not just transgender athletes. Libby Watson, campaign manager for No Hate in WA State, the primary coalition opposing I-638, called it "the most extreme measure of its kind" among similar proposals nationally in a July interview with The 19th.

No other state with a transgender athlete restriction requires all female athletes to verify their birth sex, The 19th reported.

Supporters gathered 445,187 signatures to qualify I-638 for the ballot, well above the roughly 300,000 required, The Seattle Times reported. The measure was sponsored by Let's Go Washington, a political action committee founded by Brian Heywood.

A September 2025 poll found 69 percent statewide support, though Vox noted the survey used language favorable to the measure.

A May 2026 poll by the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center found voters more divided: 43 percent strongly in favor, 21 percent strongly opposed and 17 percent fully undecided.

What's next

Voter pamphlets begin arriving in mailboxes Oct. 1. The American Academy of Pediatrics' Washington chapter has objected to how its name appears in the pamphlet's argument for I-638, according to Seattle's Child.

No Bellevue School District coaches, athletes or administrators have commented publicly on the measure. The election is Nov. 3.