‘Save Girls Sports’ on the November Ballot — Here’s How You Can Help
Voters in Colorado, Maine and Washington will have the opportunity to protect girls and women’s sports from male athletes this November. Two more states, Nebraska and Nevada, are also looking to qualify similar measures for the fall ballot.
Many conservatives think that President Donald Trump’s executive orders and the Department of Education actions have completely stopped males from competing in girls and women’s sports in public schools. But the truth is, many states are fighting the administration’s actions, and males continue to take awards, records and spots on teams from female athletes.
Earlier this month, a young man named AB Hernandez tripled at the Mt. SAC Invitational, in Walnut, California, winning the girls long jump, triple jump and high jump. This male-bodied athlete knocked high school girls off the podium and out of the record books. Hernandez also won state titles in the women’s high jump and triple jump at the championship in May 2025.
Similar incidents have recently taken place in other states, including Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota and West Virginia.
With so many states violating Title IX, it’s important to have laws on the books safeguarding girls in sports, locker rooms and restrooms. Twenty-six state legislatures have protected girls sports, but where legislators have failed to act, citizens are now taking action to pass “Save Girls Sports” ballot measures.
In Colorado, an entirely grassroots effort was successful in placing the Colorado Sex Requirement for School and College Sports Initiative on the fall ballot. Protect Kids Colorado worked with more than 3,000 volunteers and hundreds of churches to gather 170,000 signatures for the citizen-initiated ballot initiative.
The measure acknowledges the truth about male-female differences and the necessity for sex segregated sports and locker rooms:
The proposed law would define males and females based on human reproductive systems and mandates that interscholastic and intramural teams and sports designated for girls or women “shall not be open to a male student or participant.”
A group has already formed to fight the initiative. Families Not Politics is supported by LGBT activists and their allies, including Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, Colorado PTA, Queer Futures, One Colorado and the League of Women Voters.
An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex qualified for the November 3 ballot in Maine after supporters submitted more than 71,000 signatures to Maine Sec. of State Shanna Bellows.
The initiative would designate sports teams in public schools to be for males, females or coeducational, by students’ sex as recorded at birth on their original birth certificate. The initiative would also require schools to “maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms, shower rooms and other private spaces for each sex,” guarding students’ safety and privacy.
Protect Girls Sports in Maine sponsored the initiative, which was supported by a coalition of more than 8,000 men, Maine Girl Dads. Protect Girls Sports is protesting Sec. Bellows’ draft wording of the referendum, which focuses on the change to Maine’s laws that give special status to “gender identity”:
The organization says this is misleading for four reasons:
- The act does not “change civil rights laws” as sex is already a protected class.
- All private spaces, not just bathrooms, are protected.
- Designation is based on “sex,” not “gender.”
- “Sue schools” misrepresents the intent to simply and commonly enforce civil rights.
Washington state will decide on Initiative Measure IL26-638, Protecting Fairness in Girls Sports, after Let’s Go Washington collected more than 416,000 signatures to place the initiative on November’s ballot. The state legislature had the option to pass the measure, but since legislators would not vote to keep female athletes safe, voters will now decide.
The Family Policy Institute of Washington, a Focus on the Family ally, supports the measure. Its president, Brian Noble, told the Daily Citizen the initiative process demonstrates “how citizens in Washington can impact policy despite conservatives being significantly outnumbered in both the Washington House and Senate.”
Let’s Go Washington explains that the ballot measure “would ban biological boys from competing in girls sports by requiring the student athlete’s doctor to note their gender during their routine sports physical.” It overturns state policies that allow “transgender and nonbinary students” to play on teams based on their “gender identity.”
In Nebraska and Nevada, groups are working hard to place protections for female athletes on the ballot.
The Nebraska Family Alliance (NFA) announced the launch of Fairness for Girls, which would add protection for girls sports into the Nebraska Constitution. The initiative requires signatures of 10% of the state’s voters by July in order to be placed on the ballot.
The Stand for Women Act was signed into law in 2025, but as NFA stated, “Nebraska’s current law is statutory, not constitutional, which can be modified or repealed, as opponents are promising to do.”
“This isn’t just about sports – it’s about fairness, safety, and truth itself. No girl should ever lose her opportunity to compete for championships and scholarships to a man,” NFA added.
The Nevada Biological Sex Requirements for School Sports Programs Amendment would amend the state Constitution to keep males out of girls sports.
Governor Joe Lombardo announced the initiative in a press release, saying it “would amend the Equal Rights Amendment to protect fairness and integrity in girls’ athletics.” Voters approved the state’s Equal Rights Amendment in 2022, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of a variety of characteristics, including “gender identity.”
The Protect Girls Sports political action committee was formed to collect the almost 150,000 signatures needed by June 24 to place the measure on the November ballot.
The website She Won lists almost 3400 female athletes who have lost medals, records, scholarships or other opportunities to males.
To help stop this unfairness, concerned citizens can volunteer, sign petitions, collect signatures, pray and support the groups listed in this article who are working to protect girls and women’s sports.
Photo: AB Hernandez, Getty Images
Related articles and resources:
Christian Civic League of Maine
How to Get in Touch With Your State Policy Group
Family Policy Institute of Washington
#SaveGirlsSports – New Campaign Launched by Family Policy Alliance
Top 5 Moments From Supreme Court Arguments Over Girls Sports
