Washington voters last week approved Initiative 638, a measure barring biological males from competing in girls’ K-12 sports, even as Democrats posted gains elsewhere on the ballot. The result prompted a Seattle Times article examining whether the vote reflected fairness concerns in women’s sports or bias against transgender people.
The Sunday story quoted people on both sides of the debate, but one passage has drawn pointed criticism from commentators and researchers who argue it misrepresents the scientific record. The Times wrote: “There is no serious scientific evidence that trans girls or women are better athletes than cisgender girls or women. A few transgender girls have won at the high school level, but across the U.S., just a few trans women have competed at elite college or professional levels, and none have dominated their sport.”
Critics have pointed to a 2025 scientific paper, cited by investigative journalist Benjamin Ryan in a Substack post, showing that while testosterone suppression reduces athletic performance in transgender women who went through male puberty, significant advantages in muscle strength, power, size and aerobic capacity can persist. Ryan also cited a 2020 review in Sports Medicine finding that transgender women typically lose only about 5% of muscle mass after a year of testosterone suppression.
Radio host Jason Rantz, who also challenged the Times’ framing, cited a 2020 study of U.S. Air Force personnel that found transgender women remained 12% faster than their female counterparts in a 1.5-mile run even after two years of hormone therapy. Other research Rantz referenced showed hormone treatment can substantially reduce athletic performance in some cases, indicating the scientific findings are not uniform.
Opponents of the Times’ characterization also point to Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who was ranked 65th nationally in the 500-yard freestyle in 2019 and, after nearly three years of feminizing hormone therapy, won the NCAA Division I championship in that event in 2022.
In Washington state, a cross country runner in Camas who switched from the boys’ team to the girls’ team midseason this year went from placing 76th in a boys’ JV race to first in a girls’ varsity race, an example critics have cited in discussions of the issue.
The Seattle Times article also quoted a family physician who criticized Initiative 638 without noting her background in transgender medicine, according to critics of the paper’s coverage. They further noted that a reporter who attended three cross country meets involving the Camas runner did not quote any female competitors from those events.
The Times’ comment section, where subscribers typically respond to stories, was closed on the article.
Initiative 638 is described as the first ballot measure of its kind to pass separating boys’ and girls’ K-12 sports in Washington.
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