SEATTLE — Gov. Bob Ferguson called on Washington voters to reject an upcoming ballot initiative that would bar transgender girls from competing in girls sports at K-12 schools.

Ferguson’s opposition aligns him with dozens of other groups that are rallying against Initiative 638, including Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the Seattle School Board, the Washington State PTA, the Metropolitan King County Council and city councils in Seattle, Tacoma, Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline.

The initiative — called the “Defending Equity in Interscholastic Sports Act” — would apply to K-12 schools, specifically competitive team sports or individual events that are “intended for female students only,” the initiative states. Washington voters will consider the measure in November’s general election.

It would also require all students who want to participate in competitive girls sports to submit medical documentation that “verifies” their “biological sex.” According to the initiative’s text, this confirmation can come from a typical sports physical’s examination of “the student’s reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”

“Washingtonians should know that I-638 won’t create opportunities for girls but it will force them into invasive sex verification exams in order to participate in sports,” Ferguson wrote in a statement alongside No Hate in Washington State, the campaign opposing Initiative 638 and other ballot measures by Let’s Go Washington.

A spokesperson for Let’s Go Washington, the conservative political committee backing this and two other initiatives on November’s ballot, challenged Ferguson’s characterization. Spokesperson Hallie Herzberg rejected the notion that the initiative would require invasive physical exams, saying that it would only require “an athlete’s doctor to confirm the athlete’s sex using existing medical history forms or their own knowledge of the patient.”

“We’re talking about adding a checkbox back onto a form that doctors already fill out,” Herzberg wrote in a statement. “Girls are losing opportunities in sports to boys in Ferguson’s state and he’s more concerned with spreading misinformation than protecting girls’ rights.”

Transgender student athletes in Washington have long had the legal right to compete on the sports teams that align with their gender identity. But if passed, Initiative 638 would change that for transgender girls. The initiative makes no mention of, and would not apply, to transgender boys who compete on boys school sports teams.

Earlier this month, Ferguson warned against a second Let’s Go Washington ballot measure, Initiative 001, which would grant parents more access to public school records related to their children, expanding the state’s existing “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

Let’s Go Washington, overseen by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, is also backing a third ballot initiative, which aims to repeal Washington’s recently passed high-earners income tax. The “millionaires tax” will apply a 9.9% tax to households earning more than $1 million per year starting in 2028, with collections beginning in 2029.

A Ballot Initiative Strategy Center poll suggests that both school-related initiatives face an uphill battle at the ballot box — 43% of the 400 Washington voters surveyed said they planned to vote in favor of Initiative 638. The same survey asked 800 Washington voters about Initiative 001. Just under one-third of voters surveyed said they would approve that ballot measure.

Sen. Murray criticized both ballot measures Tuesday, calling Initiative 638’s sex-verification requirement “disturbing and totally unacceptable.”

“These initiatives won’t make a single kid safer or a single game fairer,” Murray wrote in a statement.

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