WIAA%20Current%20Amendments%207%20and%208.pdf

Parent document: School Board Meeting_ Study Session-03-27-2025.pdf

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Philosophy of Gender Identity Participation: The WIAA encourages participation for all students,
regardless of their gender identity or expression. Further, most local, state, and federal rules and
regulations require schools to provide transgender and other gender-diverse student-athletes with equal
opportunities to participate in athletics. This policy encourages a culture in which all student-athletes can
compete in a safe and supportive environment, free of discrimination. There are two categories of sports-
‘Boys/Open’ and ‘Girls’. All student-athletes regardless of sex, gender identity, or gender expression who
meet eligibility criteria are allowed to participate in the ‘Boys/Open Category’. However, to maintain fair
and equitable competition, participation in the ‘Girls Category’ is limited to students whose biological sex

is female.



18.16.0 GENDER IDENTITY PARTICIPATION - All students are encouraged to participate in WIAA
athletics and/or activities. All student-athletes regardless of sex, gender identity, or gender expression
who meet eligibility criteria are allowed to participate in the ‘Boys/Open Category’. However, in order to
maintain fair and equitable competition, participation in the ‘Girls Category’ is limited to students whose
biological sex is female as defined in Appendix 6*.

Boys/Open Category Girls Category

Baseball Girls Basketball
Basketball Girls Bowling
Cheerleading as a Sport Girls Cross Country
Cross County Girls Golf
Dance/Drill as a Sport Girls Gymnastics
Football Girls Soccer
Golf Girls Softball (Slowpitch)
Soccer Girls Softball (Fastpitch)
Swimming/Diving Girls Swimming/Diving
Tennis Girls Tennis
Track & Field Girls Track & Field
Wrestling Girls Volleyball
Girls Wrestling

For eligibility determination, biological sex may be verified using an original birth certificate or, if
unavailable, an affidavit from a licensed physician. In rare cases involving student-athletes with
differences in sex development such as intersex conditions, appeals should be reviewed on a case-by-
case basis in accordance with WIAA 19.0.0, Student Appeals of Ineligibility.

*For the purposes of this policy, it is the proposer’s recommendation to update Appendix 6 by
replacing the term “assigned” with "biological”:

APPENDIX 6 — GENDER IDENTITY Language and terminology are continually evolving, which
means that people talk and think about gender in many different ways. However, below are a
number of commonly used terms (and key aspects to each of our identities) to use as a starting
point for any conversation about gender:

1. Assigned Biological Sex describes the sex a person was given at birth based on their
anatomy. Falls within two categories: female and male.

Submitted by the Lynden School District, Blaine School District, Brewster School District, Cashmere
School District, Colville School District, Grand Coulee Dam School District, Lake Chelan School District,
Lynden Christian School, Mansfield School District, Mead School District, Okanogan School District,
Omak School District, Oroville School District, and Tonasket School District.

Proposed Amendment for the 2025 Representative Assembly
10/28/2024
Paae 2


Rationale:

The policy is modeled after Alaska’s program which replaces boys’ sports with an open division for all
student-athletes while also creating eligibility restrictions for girls’ sports.

PROS:

1. Focus is on fair competition and protecting the integrity of female sports. Restricting girls’ sports
to those designated female at birth aims to maintain a level playing field, addressing concerns
about potential physical advantages in certain sports.

2. Maintaining separate divisions for biological girls addresses safety concerns that could arise
from physical differences in some sports.

3. The policy emphasizes inclusivity and encourages transgender and gender-diverse students to
participate in athletics & activities. The policy aligns with local, state, and federal guidelines that
mandate equal opportunities for all students.

4. Provides clear eligibility guidelines by creating an open division and restricting girls’ sports to
student-athletes who are biological females. Clarity within eligibility can ensure consistency
across schools and sports. Female athletes, parents, coaches, and teams having a clearer
understanding of who is competing within each category reduces the potential of unfair and
vitriol responses to successful transgender female athletes.

5. Transgender participation policies are currently being developed across all competition levels of
organizations sponsoring sex-segregated athletics.

CONS:

1. Restricting participation in girls’ athletics to biological females may spark legal challenges at
federal and state levels. Although the policy states a commitment to inclusivity, some may
interpret it as discriminatory based on gender expression or identity, particularly student-
athletes who identify as female but are unable to compete in girls’ sports.

2. Privacy should be fully protected. Any appeal process could be complicated and may involve
medical evaluations that raise privacy and ethical concerns. Schools and athletic organizations
may face challenges implementing and enforcing the policy, especially regarding medical
assessments or appeals, leading to administrative burdens and potential inconsistencies in
implementation.

Proposed Amendment for the 2025 Representative Assembly
10/28/2024
Paae 3


ML/HS AMENDMENT #8
18.16.0 GENDER IDENTITY PARTICIPATION Page 37

18.16.0 GENDER IDENTITY PARTICIPATION - All students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA
athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity. Athletic programs
will be offered separately for boys, girls and an open division for all students interested as outlined in
Appendix 2. en neti 7 e e ei j i

Submitted by Eastmont School District, Cashmere School District, Colville School District, Lynden School
District, Mead School District, Moses Lake School District, and Thorp School District.

Pros:

All students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities ina manner that is
equitable, and fair, while preventing harm to student athletes in the form of diminishing achievement
and discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, or expression. Athletic programs shall be offered
separately for boys, girls and open as outlined in Appendix 2. Athletes will participate in programs
consistent with their sex assigned at birth (Assigned Sex as defined in Appendix 6) with exceptions as
follows. Athletes wishing to compete according to their gender identity, if differing from their Assigned
Sex, shall compete in the open division. Further, athletes in the process of transition that have
undertaken medical changes (Appendix 6) are eligible to participate in the open division. School
personnel responsible for student eligibility will work collaboratively with the student-athlete to
determine eligibility for the boys, girls, and open divisions. Once the student has been granted eligibility
to participate in the open division consistent with their gender identity and/or transition status, the
eligibility is granted for the duration of the student’s participation and does not need to be renewed
every sports season or school year. The WIAA staff is willing to collaborate with any member school
seeking assistance regarding gender equity. For additional information on Gender Identity, refer to
Appendix 6.

By designating an open division category for sports, this amendment will preserve the equality of
opportunity to participate in athletics while simultaneously creating a delineating category for different
genders: boys versus boys; girls versus girls; and transgender versus transgender or transgender versus
nonbinary. The arguments in favor of this amendment are the same as those that would be used to
separate boys and girls sports- see WIAA Handbook Appendix 2.

The legislature finds that the mission of the WIAA is to assist member schools in operating student
pogroms that foster achievement, respect, equity, enthusiasm, and excellence in a safe and organized
environment per RCW 28A.600.200 Finding-Intent-2012 c 155. Further, the legislature intends to ensure
that this mission is successfully carried out so that arbitrary sanctions that result in students unfairly
being denied participation, or cause students’ achievement to be diminished do not occur.

Science and medical experts have shown that Assigned Sex (see WIAA Handbook Appendix 6) is a key
determinant of athletic performance, with males outperforming females in sports that are primarily
determined by neuromuscular, cardiovascular, and respiratory function, and anthropometrics including
2025 Proposed Amendments
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Reviewed 12/18/2024


Continuation of ML/HS AMENDMENT #8

body and limb size. Many sports organizations, including the International Swimming Federation (FINA),
World Athletics, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) have all changed their policies in response to the substantial sex
difference in sports performance and the need to prevent unfair competition.

Legal and Human Rights experts for FIN recognize the necessity that female athletes are not
discriminated against by allowing biological males to unfairly compete against them. It is also
understood that, as with any form of affirmative action, an effort not to discriminate against biological
female athletes and thus to ensure a sex-based female category itself has exclusionary effects.

This amendment seeks to designate a third open division for sports that maintains a truly equitable
playing field, allowing safe, fair, inclusive and non-discriminatory opportunities for all students wishing
to participate in athletics and activities. It ensures fairness in competition while preventing harm to
student athletes in the form of diminishing achievements and discrimination on the basis of sex, gender
identity, or expression. It prevents further deviance from the legislature’s intent of RCW 28A.600.200
such as that which occurred at the 2024 WIAA State Track and Field Championship while following the
WIAA Gender Identity policy. The winning athlete in the race had competed as a b oy in previous
seasons, and the WIAA policy resulted in diminished achievements for girls in the race and those that
failed to qualify. The fist biological girl in the State Championship race finished in second place, behind
the biological male athletes recognized as the State Champion girl.

Cons:

The cons of this amendment include, competitions may be extended in length and inviting athletes from
across state lines to mitigate player counts is encouraged to accommodate participation of athletes in
the open division.

HS AMENDMENT #9
20.0.0 EJECTION FROM CONTEST Page 44

20.1.3 The first ejection of the season shall result, at a minimum, in the ejected person (student, coach,
other school representative) being suspended until after the next school contest in that sport at
the same level of competition from which the person was ejected has been completed.

NOTE: Level refers to either varsity or sub-varsity.

A. Once the postseason begins, a suspension can be fulfilled only in contests that count
toward qualifying for the next round.

Q&A-1: One of our softball players was ejected on Saturday during the first round of the WIAA
District qualifying tournament. The second round is next Saturday, but we have a makeup
regular season game that could be played midweek. Could that game be played in order for
the suspension to be fulfilled?

Since the postseason has already begun, this makeup game no longer has any bearing on the
postseason. While the game could be played, the ejected player could not play in it and the
suspension would not be fulfilled until the ejected player sits out the next postseason contest.

2025 Proposed Amendments
Page 12
Reviewed 12/18/2024