Frances Staudt chose not to play against a biological male in a high school basketball game and said she gets harassed every day in her school’s hallways because of her decision. It doesn’t matter to her detractors that that male was also in her locker room before the game.
Alanna Smith was a college sprinter at Georgia Southern who had aspirations of winning the Connecticut State Open while in high school. But she knew she was defeated before her race began because of the biological male lining up against her in the blocks.
Bailey Andersen was a high school basketball player who remembers a 6-foot biological male out-jumping her 6-foot-3 teammate on the opening tip due to his superior athleticism. But her lasting memory from that day was the mustached boys flexing in front of a mirror in the girls’ locker room before the game.
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Kendall Kotzmacher is a college softball player who lost her high school state championship game to a team that started a biological male at pitcher. That wasn’t her only loss, though, as myriad friends have abandoned her since she began speaking up on this issue.
Sadie Sullivan was a high school swimmer who said she regularly had biological males in her locker room while she was changing into her suit, and that hearing male voices in her space “freaked me out.”
So what brought these five ladies to a rally in Vancouver, Wash., last Saturday to share their stories? To make sure nothing like that ever happens again in Washington state.
Actually, their ambitions extend beyond Washington. They don’t want these types of incidents happening anywhere in the country, but stopping them in the Pacific Northwest is the immediate priority.
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On Nov. 3, Washington voters will decide whether to pass Initiative 638, which would bar biological males from competing in girls’ K-12 sports. What’s particularly significant about this measure is that it took hundreds of thousands of signatures from across the state to get it on the ballot.
Twenty-seven other states separate biological males from females in K-12 sports, but all of those policies were enacted by state legislatures rather than approved by voters. So if Washingtonians approved Initiative 638, it could become the first state in the country to put such a policy into law by popular vote — and the first state that President Donald Trump lost in 2024 to have one on the books.
That last detail matters, because Democrat politicians have largely dismissed the trans-in-sports debate as a non-issue. But if this measure were to pass in one of the bluest states in the country?
“If we can show that a state like Washington has enough common sense to stand up for the girls and women, then any other state can do so as well,” said Staudt, a senior at Tumwater High in Washington. “I think we need people to know that it’s possible to be done.
Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics, agrees. The former national-team gymnast was at the rally in Washington on Saturday but lives in Colorado, where voters will consider a similar measure restricting biological males from competing in female school sports on the Nov. 3 ballot. It’s Sey’s hope that if these initiatives pass, it will start a “cascade” that leads to legislation in all 50 states.
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But despite this being an 80-20 issue nationally, and despite most Democrats supporting gender separation in sports, there is no guarantee that these measures will get through. Politicians have been employing scare tactics to try to squash the initiatives — most notably by warning that they would subject girls to “invasive genital inspections.”
Those were the exact words used by Tacoma City Councilmember Olgy Diaz last July. The Seattle City Council and King County Democrats made similar claims, with the latter describing I-638 as requiring girls “to undergo genital inspection to play sports at school.”
But as Sey has previously noted, these “genital inspections” aren’t happening in the 27 states that do separate biological males and females in sports. Brandi Kruse, who emceed Saturday’s rally and hosts the Washington-based podcast “Undivided,” called these rhetorical ploys a red herring.
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“It’s interesting that the one argument the other side has not made and has not attempted to make, is that it’s perfectly fine for boys to compete against girls,” Kruse said. “They know that’s a losing argument, so instead they make things up. They say that if you pass this initiative, then girls will have to get invasive genital exams…your doctor knows what your gender is.”
It’s probably a safe assumption that everybody in the auditorium for Saturday’s rally was in favor of passing I-638. But there was one man outside the property’s walls holding a sign reading “if you are not an antifascist, what are you?”
To his credit, he was civil when I spoke with him. But he called this whole debate a non-issue.
“If you got beat by a biological male, sorry,” he said.
What about boys changing in girls locker rooms?
“Just throw it all into the ridiculous propaganda bucket,” he replied.
I then asked for his name, but he wouldn’t give it to me. And he only let me take a picture if he could cover his face with his sign.
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We know who the cowards are on this issue — and they certainly weren’t the ladies at the rally.
The aforementioned Kotzmacher said she has received death threats, while some detractors have threatened to show up at her home or college. But the Minnesota native keeps talking — whether in Washington, D.C. or Washington state — in hopes that a victory in one blue state can set off a chain reaction across the country.
“I think that’s the entire goal is to try and scare me back into being silent,” Kotzmacher said. “But at this point, nothing’s going to stop me and nothing’s going to stop the other girls.”
Last year, trans track athlete Veronica Garcia, representing East Valley High in Spokane Valley, won the Washington state title in the 400 meters. This year, a boy for Camas High in WA switched to the girls cross-country team midseason and is currently dominating. And Monday, OutKick’s Jackson Thompson reported that a Washington family requested a SCOTUS injunction after their daughter was allegedly assaulted by a trans athlete last year.
There have been real consequences in that state — just as there have been across the country. If Washingtonians want to say “no” to this madness, they’ll have to vote “yes” on I-638.
“I think that’s the entire goal is to try and scare me back into being silent,” Kotzmacher said. “But at this point, nothing’s going to stop me and nothing’s going to stop the other girls.”
Last year, trans track athlete Veronica Garcia, representing East Valley High in Spokane Valley, won the Washington state title in the 400 meters. This year, a boy for Camas High in WA switched to the girls cross-country team midseason and is currently dominating. And Monday, OutKick’s Jackson Thompson reported that a Washington family requested a SCOTUS injunction after their daughter was allegedly assaulted by a trans athlete last year.
There have been real consequences in that state — just as there have been across the country. If Washingtonians want to say “no” to this madness, they’ll have to vote “yes” on I-638.
