Washington schools grapple with conflicting policy on trans sports

For many kids, the transition from elementary to middle school is tough.

It means a new — often bigger — school with new classes, new teachers, and new classmates. The change can be especially difficult for transgender youth.

A mom in a Seattle suburb says that's certainly been the case for her daughter.

"On top of all the regular middle school struggles, where everyone's trying to fit in and everyone's trying not to stand out, she has to think about these other things — like safety, privacy, being outed," the mom said.

Fast forward to seventh grade, and her daughter is now thriving — largely because of soccer.

"Soccer is just a place where she can be herself — where she can be good at something, just have fun, let go, not think about all those other things," the mom said.

But she worries her daughter's soccer days might be limited, given the political firestorm around trans athletics.

It hit close to home this year, when the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state's governing agency for middle and high school athletics, proposed a rule change that would prohibit transgender girls from playing girls sports. Instead, they'd have to compete in the "boys/open" division.

This, the mom said, would be a crushing blow for her daughter. She'd likely quit this sport she loves, rather than out herself to the world.

The mom requested anonymity for this story to protect her daughter's identity.

"My daughter is a real person with feelings and aspirations and dreams. She wants to continue playing soccer," she said. "I don't necessarily think that she's going to be like a professional soccer player, but I think she has the right to have that dream — just like any other girl does."

"That would devastate her, honestly," she added.

The WIAA Representative Assembly is set to vote on this proposal — and 15 others — starting Wednesday. If passed with at least a 60% vote, changes to the agency's handbook typically go into effect on Aug. 1.

But now, this proposed rule change— and another one also related to trans sports — will be categorized as "advisory vote only," after a legal review found the change would violate state law and could not be implemented.

RELATED: Proposal to limit transgender athletes' participation in sports blocked in Washington state

Still, the mom knows this controversy is far from over.

Current state policy allows trans students to participate in sports programs consistent with their gender identity. Established in 2007, the policy was the first of its kind in the nation and had been held up as a model of inclusivity to other states.

But the issue has become increasingly political on both sides of the aisle in recent years — especially now, in light of President Donald Trump's Feb. 5 executive order, "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports."

More than half of U.S. states have laws or agency regulations in place that restrict trans students' participation in sports, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights.

And some say Washington should do the same.

RELATED: How will Trump's ban on trans athletes in girls’ sports impact Washington state?

David VanderYacht is the superintendent of the Lynden School District, one of 14 districts backing the proposed rule change to limit girls sports to students assigned female at birth.

Although this week's vote won't change anything, he still sees a need for this community conversation.

"It made sense to at least begin some of the work to address this," he said.

VanderYacht believes Washington's policy has worked for a long time.

Only about 1% of Washington' state's population ages 13-17 identified as transgender, according to 2022 estimates from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles — and only a small percentage of transgender youth participate in sports.

But VanderYacht said he realized the state's approach had become "unworkable" last May, when a transgender high school track athlete took first place at state. During the race, he recalled how people booed and the crowd fell silent when she took the podium later to claim her victory.

"Watching that race, seeing a transgender student athlete stand on the podium and not be accepted by the peer group that she desires to be accepted by was really hard," VanderYacht said. "And equally hard was knowing that we had biological girls that were feeling like they had not run a fair race."

Weeks later, the Lynden School Board directed VanderYacht to explore a rule change for trans student athletes.

VanderYacht and a work group of more than 20 superintendents around the state ultimately landed on this proposal, modeled after Alaska's approach.

The goal, he said, is to preserve fairness and the "integrity" of girls' sports, while also keeping athletics accessible to everyone.

"It was not driven by any interest in limiting opportunities for transgender student athletes," VanderYacht said, noting he consulted with a variety of stakeholders, including parents of transgender students and mental health providers, among others, while drafting the proposal.

Apart from this rule change, though, federal challenges are also putting schools on unsure legal footing.

"Everyone is in a bit of a bind right now," said Lisa Manheim, a law professor at the University of Washington. "The schools need to follow not only Washington state law, but they also need to follow federal law."

While it's clear that state law prohibits discrimination in public schools on the basis of gender identity, Manheim said it remains unclear at this point exactly what federal law requires.

Trump's executive order argues that allowing trans girls in women's sports discriminates against women and violates Title IX. But an executive order can't make that call, Manheim said, and the order is facing a legal challenge.

"This sort of uncertainty in the law typically needs to get worked out by the courts," she said, "and that process just takes time."

Meanwhile, Washington officials have advised districts to essentially ignore the executive order.

State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has called the order a federal overreach that "directly contradicts" state laws. Reykdal has directed districts to continue following existing guidance from his office, which says "schools are required to allow all students, including transgender and nonbinary students, the opportunity to participate on the interscholastic sports team that most closely aligns with their gender identity."

Reykdal has also promised to take legal action if federal funding is paused, withheld, or removed from any public schools in Washington, as Trump threatened to do if educational institutions don't comply with his executive order.

In March, a month after Trump issued the order, the U.S. Department of Education launched a Title IX investigation into the Tumwater School District after it allowed a high school girls' basketball game to proceed when a transgender girl was playing on the opposing team.

RELATED: U.S. Department of Education investigates Tumwater School District over transgender student athlete

Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said at the time that the investigation "demonstrates that the Trump education department will vigorously enforce Title IX to ensure men stop competing in women's sports."

"If Washington wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Department," he said in a news release, "it has to follow federal law."

Since then, some districts have been pushing for clearer guidance from the feds — and they're divided on whether they want to follow state or federal policy.

RELATED: Transgender sports policies at heart of federal complaint from Washington school district

While some districts have publicly said they'll keep following state policy, the Kennewick School Board has filed a federal complaint against state officials, claiming they're preventing the district from following Trump's executive order — and they don't want to put critical federal funding at risk at a time when districts across the state are already grappling with financial woes.

“Our school board now faces a serious dilemma: Either the Kennewick School District complies with state mandates that put our federal funding in jeopardy; or it complies with Executive Orders (that ensure protection of our girls and young women) and risks retaliation from Washington State Officials,” the board wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

“This conflict threatens our ability to create a safe and non discriminatory environment for our 18,000 students and infringes on both federal and local authority.”

It's unclear what will come of that complaint — but for now, Washington schools remain in legal limbo.