Despite nearly $400 million spent in anti-transgender advertisements across the country, voters refused to take the bait. Big wins on the ballot for LGBTQ+ people were called last night in Virginia and Missouri, and the results of ballot contests in Colorado and Washington are anticipated in the next few days.
Lambda Legal today responded to the results of state ballot measures affecting LGBTQ+ people in six states. These ballot measures overwhelmingly focus on harming transgender young people by singling them out for different treatment when it comes to their medical care, their ability to confide in school nurses and counselors about their safety at home, and their ability to participate in educational athletic opportunities.
In Missouri, a ballot measure that would make abortion illegal in almost all cases and which purported to ban gender affirming care for minors failed.
Results of ballot contests in Colorado and Washington remain outstanding as ballots continue to be received and counted. In Colorado, voters confronted two measures that would, if passed, forbid transgender youth from participating in educational athletic activities and from accessing medically necessary care that transgender youth and their parents agree they need. In Washington, two measures on the ballot target transgender young people’s safety and ability to participate in educational athletic programs, projections there indicate that these too will likely fail.
Additionally, Virginia voters approved Question 2, removing the defunct ban on marriage for same-sex couples from the state constitution.
“As we wait for the results in Colorado and Washington to be completed, we already have learned a fundamental truth from the outcome of this election –throwing transgender and nonbinary people under the bus failed to accomplish the objectives of people who invested hundreds of millions of dollars into trying to turn us against each other,” said Cathryn Oakley, Deputy Legal Director for Policy at Lambda Legal. “In Virginia, voters cleared antiquated, discriminatory language out of their constitution and affirmed that marriage equality is here to stay. In Missouri, voters rejected efforts to take healthcare decision making away from Missourians and give it to lawmakers instead. We are hopeful that when all the ballots are counted in Colorado and Washington that voters in those states will have turned down measures that would have subjected girls to invasive inspections, taken health care decisions away from families and doctors, and stripped protections from students who confide in trusted adults at school.”
“Our hearts go out to the transgender and nonbinary young people all across the country who have been subjected to these relentless, cynical attacks for no reason other than disapproval and misunderstanding of who they are. Lambda Legal sees you and will continue to fight for you, as we will continue to fight in places like Arizona and Nebraska, where the fight against discriminatory ballot measures was hard-fought but didn’t prevail. The truth is, these ballot measures aren’t about us – they are about the need of some people to divide Americans and turn us against one another,” Oakley continued.
“We will never accept that. Lambda Legal will keep fighting through impact litigation, advocacy and public education. The time of scapegoating our communities for cheap political gains is over.”
Voters in Arizona and Nebraska, while unable to overcome overwhelmingly difficult conditions for victory in the states, beat expectations in also rejecting measures aimed at transgender people.
LGBTQ+ issues were on the ballot in six states this year, and Lambda Legal provided funding for narrative change, community care, and get-out-the-vote efforts in Colorado, Washington and Virginia.
Colorado: It is too soon to know whether voters rejected Proposition 134, which sought to strip local schools, athletic associations and parents of the authority to set sports eligibility policies and would have subjected girls to invasive, government-run inspections, and Proposition 135, which sought to ban transgender youth and their families from making informed decisions about best-practice health care alongside their doctors.
Washington: It is too soon to know whether voters rejected IL26-638, which would have required genital inspections of girls to determine eligibility for school sports, and IL26-001, which sought to remove protections for LGBTQ+ youth and other vulnerable youth who confide in trusted educators and counselors at school.
Virginia: Voters approved Question 2, striking language from the state constitution that banned marriage for same-sex couples. The ban was enacted 20 years ago and has been moot since the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Missouri: Voters rejected Missouri Amendment 3, which would have written a ban on gender-affirming care for minors into the state constitution.
Arizona and Nebraska: Unfortunately, ballot measures in Arizona and Nebraska did pass. Arizona Proposition 318 will restrict transgender students’ and employees’ access to school restrooms, locker rooms and sports teams; and Nebraska Initiative Measure 442 will add sex-based eligibility rules for school and college sports to the state constitution.