11/11/2026
SJI Pride Foundation Statement on IL26-638
San Juan Island Pride Foundation stands with transgender youth and unequivocally opposes IL26-638
First, to all trans youth and their families: you belong, you matter, and we stand with you. You deserve to play sports and we love you and stand by your side.
To all trans people: you are valued, you are loved, and we stand with you. We will not stop fighting for trans rights.
We are incredibly disheartened that this initiative, which will require verification of a girl’s s*x via “reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels,” appears to have passed in Washington state. With 89% of votes counted as of November 7th, 56.49% of voters voted yes, while 43.51% voted no statewide. We firmly believe that this initiative is discriminatory and detrimental to trans and female identifying youth.
San Juan Island Pride Foundation helped spread the word about the initiative on San Juan Island, partnering with the No Hate in Washington State campaign to put up signs all over the island and going door to door to educate voters and encourage them to protect trans youth. Here in San Juan County, 53.36% of voters voted against the initiative while 41.64% voted for the initiative. We hope that our efforts helped contribute to the fact that our county did NOT support this initiative.
Initiative IL26-63 hurts trans youth and will hurt girls across the state as they are subjected to unnecessary medical inspections if they want to play sports, creating another barrier for trans and female athletes. Notably, no verification is required to play boy’s sports. While the initiative allows for 3 options, genetic and hormone testing is expensive, so less wealthy families will probably be forced to rely on verification based on reproductive anatomy (which may not match genetic makeup or hormone levels). Multiple organizations have stated that they believe this initiative is unconstitutional and several are exploring legal challenges.
San Juan Island Pride Foundation supports the rights of all children to play sports, regardless of their gender or gender expression. We stand with our trans community members of all ages and we will continue to push for trans rights. Please let us know if you face any issues locally and how we can support you moving forward. While SJI Pride does not have the resources to fight this in court, we will keep our ears open for any ways we can support that fight and make sure to keep you all informed of what we learn.
Image description: the image includes the text "SJI Pride Stands with our transgender youth and unequivocally opposes IL26-638" centered on the center white stripe of the blue, pink, and white transgender pride flag
