Seattle rallies against transphobic ‘sex verification’ Initiative 638
Seattle, WA – On November 5, over 100 people rallied in Westlake Park and marched in the streets to oppose a newly passed initiative that requires sex verification for girls to participate in girls’ sports. The rally started at 6 p.m. and later marched through downtown Seattle. The route went through popular tourist sites, like Pike Place Market and Westlake Center.
The initiative passed despite a historic wave of Democratic Party voter turnout. Elayne Wylie from the Gender Justice League said, “As a community it should steel our resolve that our opponents nationwide just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on vicious anti-trans ad campaigns, to use our lives as a wedge issue to sweep their candidates into office; and guess what? It didn't work. But they found a few loopholes in a few places where they could confuse voters thinking that this was the right thing to do.”
The event was put together by Gender Equity Movement (GEM), Moto hooligans, Seattle Against War (SAW), King County Immigrants Rights Alliance (KCIRA), and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
Many of the speakers celebrated the “blue wave” while also emphasizing the need to build organizations that hold politicians accountable. Evan Gortner from GEM said, “We all collectively need to be pushing our representatives [and] putting their feet to the flame.”
Gortner led chants, like “638 is trans hate, do better, Washington state!” and “No hate, no fear! Everyone is welcome here!”
Mathieu Chabaud, from the King County Immigrant Rights Alliance, said, “The political system that allows wealthy donors like Brian Heywood, and conservative so-called journalists like Brandi Kruse, to pop up initiatives like Initiative 638 is why we are seeing this attack on trans girls in sports.”
“We believe in building political power that doesn't start and doesn't end at the ballot box, because, especially for so many of our immigrant neighbors, we have to remember that this political system does not allow immigrants to vote,” Chabaud pointed out.
Chabaud continued, “It does not give them a voice in terms of who sits on their city council, it does not give them a voice in terms of who represents them in Washington DC. So how do we have power and how do we have voices? It's not by confining ourselves to the ballot box, it’s by holding our governments and our institutions accountable.”
Rae Lee of FRSO told the crowd, “I-638 was funded by capitalist hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, who has spent over $10 million in the last four years pushing hate and discrimination through reactionary ballot initiatives. Initiative 638 intends to institute extremely invasive genital exams… on children. It’s the most extreme bill of its type in the whole country, bankrolled and passed right here in Washington state.”
Legal organizations like the ACLU and the Gender Justice League are challenging the legality of the initiative. Elaine Wylie explained further, “We're already preparing to dismantle this law in the courts and under our state's equal protection and privacy doctrines. We will block it before it ever takes root and we will back that legal fight with an unshakable grassroots wall.”