Transgender athlete bans set to reach the ballot box for the first time

Transgender athletes are on the ballot in four states this November in efforts to expand existing bans or create new ones against their participation in school sports.  

Voters in Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado and Washington will make their call on the issue, a change of strategy for anti-trans measures, which have been put on the books in 27 states through either legislation or state agency action. 

“These four states are part of a larger set of five states that are facing anti-trans ballot measures this fall, and this will be the first year that voters are voting on anti-transgender policy at the ballot box directly. This is part of a broader and coordinated campaign targeting transgender people and their rights for many years now,” said Logan Casey, director of policy research at Movement Advancement Project. 

Arizona and Nebraska already have some restrictions on transgender athletes on the books, but the initiatives would expand those rules in Arizona and cement the ban in the state constitution in Nebraska. 

In Colorado and Washington, the ballot initiatives would create those states’ first broad restrictions on transgender athletes. Colorado and Missouri also have ballot measures aimed at banning gender transition surgeries for minors.

Most of the states with existing anti-transgender policies are controlled by Republicans, but places such as Colorado and Washington could offer a tougher test.

“They’ve sort of hit an upper limit on how many states are likely to adopt this kind of policy through the legislature,........

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