Blue-State Democrats Plotting to Ignore Voters on Protecting Girls Sports

Two of America’s bluest states just delivered a stunning rebuke to the Democrat leaders who insist that boys who claim to be “transgender” belong in girls’ sports. Yet in at least one of those states, elected Democrats appear to be plotting to simply ignore a clear mandate from voters.

Overall, initiatives protecting girls’ sports passed in four states last week.

In Arizona, 59 percent of voters approved Proposition 318, which requires public schools to restrict athletic participation based on biological sex, despite Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs’s record of vetoing similar bills. Nebraska voters also added similar language to their state constitution by a roughly two-to-one margin.

But the more surprising results came in deep-blue Washington and Colorado.

In the Evergreen State, 56 percent of voters approved Initiative 638, keeping biological males off girls’ school sports teams. The measure passed despite fierce opposition from Washington Democrat Governor Bob Ferguson, Senator Patty Murray, and Representative Pramila Jayapal.

Along with prominent liberal politicians opposing I-638, liberal activists and organizations also opposed it, to no avail. Ferguson claimed incorrectly that I-638 would force girls into “invasive sex verification exams.” Jayapal went further, promising “invasive, disgusting exams on every girl who wants to play a sport.”

I-638 contains no language requiring any such exam, and Washington parents saw through the scare tactic. Nearly 1.6 million Washingtonians voted in favor of common sense and protecting girls’ sports.

Democrats had fair warning that their support for men in women’s sports is hopelessly out of step with the public. In October, “Let’s Go Washington,” I-638’s sponsor, released a survey of 7,500 likely voters showing 56 percent support, including 48 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents. The final results mirrored that poll almost exactly.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, voters also approved Proposition 134, which keeps men out of women’s sports, and Proposition 135, which bans sex-change surgeries for minors. These results notably came as Colorado Democrats swept every statewide office, with Governor-elect Phil Weiser defeating the Republican nominee by one of the widest margins in state history.

Earlier this year, Colorado’s Democrat legislature notably killed a bill similar to Proposition 134. Voters have now passed what their liberal leaders refused to.

However, in an astonishing rejection of the democratic will of the people, Weiser and Colorado Democrats appear unbowed by this clear and overwhelming message from voters. After the election, Weiser defiantly claimed that the measures are “not administrable,” saying that they need “a long, hard look” and that it is “appropriate” for the state legislature to decide what “adjustments” to make.

In other words, it appears that Weiser plans to effectively ignore the will of the voters. Unfortunately, Democrats will now have supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Because Proposition 134 is a statute rather than a constitutional amendment, lawmakers can rewrite or repeal it by simple majority.

Weiser’s hypocrisy is impossible to miss.

In September, Weiser declared that parents, “in consultation with trusted medical providers, know what is best for their children.” Yet now, in an incredible lack of self-awareness, Weiser said officials must work “to understand the will of the voters.

As conservatives have pointed out, the will of the voters is clear – they want biological males out of women’s sports, and they want to stop the atrocious practice of performing disfiguring surgeries on minor children. Protect Kids Colorado’s Erin Lee is accusing Weiser of trying to “circumvent democracy” by dressing up a rewrite as an administrative fix.

The issue is hardly trivial, as much as liberals like to claim that boys who claim transgender status are a vanishingly small minority of athletes. The Department of Education reported earlier this year that Colorado’s Jefferson County Public School District – just one district – allegedly allowed as many as 61 biological males to compete on women’s sports teams. It has since warned the district that its federal funding is at risk. Colorado voters have now effectively sided with the Trump administration on this issue.

The results last week expose a widening gap between Democrat politicians and the people who elect them. Voters in these states may elect Democrats, but they do not share radical liberal views on transgender ideology.

Democrat politicians are entitled to their opinions on transgender athletes. But they were elected to represent voters, and on this issue, voters in Washington and Colorado told them plainly that they are wrong.

The question now is whether Weiser, Ferguson, and the Democrat majorities behind them will honor a verdict they campaigned against or treat their own voters as an obstacle to be overcome.

Ultimately, what Democrats have revealed about themselves has ramifications far beyond girls’ sports. While Democrats wax poetic about “democracy” and “the will of the people,” that commitment apparently only applies as long as the people agree with Democrat politicians. The moment a democratic election produces a result that conflicts with Democrats’ left-wing agenda, liberal elites reveal their authoritarian core.