As of last night, 76 local and tribal governments have passed resolutions opposing ballot measures I-001 and I-638.
Yesterday the city of Lynwood joined Bothell, Olympia, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, Vancouver, Issaquah, Mountlake Terrace, Port Townsend, Seattle, Shoreline, Duvall, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Bellingham, Tacoma, the King County Council, the Seattle School Board, and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians representing 57 tribal governments in opposing these measures.
I-001 removes important school record protections for child abuse victims, allowing abusers under investigation or charged with harming their own child to access sensitive information about their victims.
I-638 adds a new sex inspection requirement for all girls who want to play elementary, middle, or high school sports in order to exclude an estimated 5 - 10 trans girls. The initiative says all girls must submit to examinations of their “reproductive anatomy,” DNA, or hormones to be certified to play sports. Boys are exempt and birth certificates are banned.
The municipalities and tribes join 405 organizations, including 39 faith organizations, 33 unions, WA Governor Bob Ferguson, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, and 173 other elected officials and candidates in endorsing the No Hate in WA State campaign to defeat the initiatives.
The Washington Academy of Family Physicians, the largest medical specialty organization in Washington, the NAACP, the WA State PTA, League of Women Voters, WA State Nurses Association, the WA Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and the editorial boards at the Seattle Times and the Columbian also oppose I-001 and I-638.
The Seattle Sports Commission announced yesterday that it opposes I-638 because it would “introduce additional medical, financial, and privacy-related barriers to participation in K-12 school athletics.”
The wave of opposition coming from public leadership is a notable contrast with the small handful of organizational support for I-001 and I-638 that includes anti-LGBTQ groups such as Moms for Liberty, XX-XY Athletics, WA State GOP, and Let’s Go Washington, which was recently added to GLAAD’s accountability list of people and groups for spreading “disinformation and promoting policy to harm LGBTQ people and youth.”
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