Campaigns against the people’s initiatives are ramping up and one organization is pumping lies into every communication piece they send. Ironically, “No Hate in WA State” (NHWS) advocates for keeping secrets from parents and ensuring that girls have their rightful places on sports teams jeopardized by boys who want to compete against girls. Those beliefs don’t sound very inclusive.

Public statements and internal campaign materials from “No Hate in WA State” contain multiple claims that are contradicted by Washington policy, unsupported by verifiable evidence, or inconsistent with the text of the initiatives.

1. Claims About Current Policy Contradict WIAA Rules
Claim: Participation decisions are handled “case-by-case” by local districts.
Documented policy:
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) sets a statewide standard, not a discretionary framework: “All students… participate… consistent with their gender identity.”
“Athletes will participate… consistent with their gender identity…”

Local schools and districts are required to follow this rule and don’t have the “case-by-case” jurisdiction that NHWS claims they do.

2. Participation Numbers Are Not Substantiated
Claim: Only “5–10” transgender students participate in school sports statewide
Issue: No publicly available dataset from WIAA or OSPI supports this figure

The WIAA has confirmed in emails with LGW that they do not track trans participation across sports. They have no metric to determine how many biological males are participating in girls’ sports, nor are they required by law to do so. NHWS claiming that there are only 5-10 biological males in girls’ sports is not only a gross underestimation but is also factually unsubstantiated.

3. “No Incidents” Claim Is False
Claim: The current system has operated “without incident for nearly 20 years”
Issue: Female athletes have publicly raised concerns about locker room privacy and competition

Girls from across Washington State have spoken out about discomfort in their lockerrooms when they encounter a male present. They have also talked about the lack of fairness for girls who are forced to compete against boys and how damaging it is for their confidence and physical safety.

4. Medical Claims Are Not Supported by Evidence
Claims include:
“Invasive medical exams”
Group “genital inspections”
Potential pelvic exams
Issues: I-638 does not require or authorize genital exams. The text simply sets a rule about eligibility based on biological sex. A doctor can verify an athlete’s sex based on their existing medical forms, history of knowing their patient, or any other method the doctor and patient agree is best.

5. Mischaracterization of Enforcement Mechanism
Claim: The initiative would allow “any girl to be challenged about her sex”
Issue: The initiative establishes a uniform verification standard, which would reduce discretionary challenges rather than expand them.

NHWS claims that certain races and groups would be targeted, but there is no factual evidence to support these claims. All girls would be protected with this initiative and ensure that they are competing only against biological girls.

6. Parental Rights Messaging Contains Contradictions
Claim: “Schools aren’t hiding things”
Issue: Current guidance allows schools to withhold a student’s gender identity change from parents as well as medical care that students receive from schools.

Denying reality doesn’t make NHWS’s claims true. There are more cases surfacing about school administrators hiding sensitive information about children from their parents and cases of children being abused by school staff and parents being kept in the dark for days or months. IL26-001 would ensure that parents have access to information about their children.

7. Funding Context
The campaign is supported by major institutional organizations, including:
ACLU of Washington
Washington Education Association (WEA)
SEIU 775

Each of these unions emphasize that parents are the problem and that boys should be allowed to take girls’ spots on sports teams simply because they want to.