Arizona voters pass trans sports ban that also targets bathrooms and locker rooms
Arizona voters have passed Proposition 318, the so-called “Protect Girls Sports in Arizona Act,” (Getty Images)
Arizona voters have approved Proposition 318, a ballot measure that restricts trans participation in sex-segregated sports and requires schools and private leagues to bar trans athletes from bathrooms, showers and locker rooms that do not match sex assigned at birth.
The initiative, titled the “Protect Girls Sports in Arizona Act”, passed with an estimated 57.2% voting yes and 42.8% voting no. Under the measure, K-12 schools and private sports leagues will have to decide which sports are sex-segregated, then determine eligibility based on the sex listed on a player’s birth certificate.
It also creates a legal route for enforcement, allowing athletes to sue schools or leagues that violate the proposition’s provisions.
What does Arizona’s Prop 318 require schools and leagues to do?
Prop 318 goes beyond team eligibility. It says schools and private leagues must ban trans athletes from “restrooms, showers, and locker rooms” that do not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
Darrell Hill, policy director for the ACLU of Arizona, told KTAR he was concerned facilities and cities might apply the law more widely than intended, limiting trans children’s and adults’ access to restrooms and locker rooms in circumstances not connected to taking part in sport.
“It can really act as a big barrier for trans people to participate in public life,” Hill said.
Critics warn of ‘gender policing’ and invasive scrutiny
Democratic state senator Mitzi Epstein said the proposition could encourage intrusive scrutiny of girls’ bodies and identities. She said it would “subject girls to invasive inspections and questions about their gender”, describing it as “an effort to score political points by discriminating against trans girls.”
Prop 318 is based on a 2022 Arizona law restricting trans students’ sports participation that federal courts had blocked from enforcement at the time, before the US Supreme Court ruled such bans constitutional last June.
The push to restrict trans girls’ participation in school sport has been building in Arizona for years. In March 2022, Arizona lawmakers approved a bill that would have prohibited trans youth from taking part in girls’ sports, as civil liberties groups warned of the harm such bans can cause.
