Two weeks from tomorrow, Americans vote in the midterms. Beyond Congress and the governors’ races, there’s a shorter list that matters a lot to queer and trans people: eight statewide ballot measures in seven states that touch on sex, gender and LGBTQ+ rights, according to the nonpartisan voter group HeadCount.
Six of them would restrict trans young people in school sports, school bathrooms or healthcare. Two would go the other way and write equality into a state constitution. And this is new territory: Ballotpedia notes that 2026 is the first year measures on sex-based school sports eligibility have ever reached statewide ballots.
Here’s each one, in plain language.
Colorado: Propositions 134 and 135
Colorado has two, both put on the ballot by citizen petitions backed by the group Protect Kids Colorado.
Proposition 134 would require public schools, from kindergarten through college, to designate teams as male or female and have students play on the team matching their biological sex, CBS Colorado reports. Supporters say it’s about fairness for girls. Opponents say it takes decisions away from parents and “could lead to invasive exams to verify a kid’s gender.”
Proposition 135 would ban surgeries that alter sex characteristics for under-18s when they’re in response to gender identity, and bar government and private insurers from paying for them. Hormone therapy and puberty blockers are exempt. There are exceptions for circumcision and for “medically verifiable disorders of sex development,” though CBS notes it’s unclear exactly which conditions qualify. Opponents warn it could also block surgeries for kids who aren’t trans.
Both are statutory, not constitutional: each needs a simple majority, and the legislature could later change them.
Washington: the girls’ sports verification initiative
Washington’s measure, Initiative 638, came from Let’s Go Washington, the group led by Brian Heywood. It would require schools and the nonprofits that run school sports to bar “biologically male students” from competing with and against girls, and require students who want to play on girls’ teams to provide documentation from a healthcare provider verifying their sex, per Ballotpedia. It was filed as an initiative to the legislature; lawmakers didn’t act on it, which sent it to voters.
The money gap is wide. As of July, Let’s Go Washington had raised $7.0 million in support; the main opposition campaign, No Hate in WA State, had raised $1.6 million.
Arizona: Proposition 318
Arizona’s measure was referred by the state legislature rather than by petition. Proposition 318 would bar girls from joining boys’ teams and require schools and athletic associations to restrict restrooms, locker rooms, showers and similar spaces by the sex recorded on a person’s original birth certificate, according to Ballotpedia.
Nebraska: a sports rule in the constitution
Nebraska already has a 2025 law requiring school and college athletes to compete on teams matching their sex. This measure would put the rule in the state constitution. The Fairness for Girls campaign filed about 211,000 signatures, and on August 28 the Secretary of State’s office certified the measure after validating at least 138,613, Ballotpedia reported. Its $3.1 million in cash contributions all came from one nonprofit, Restore the Good Life Inc. Rainbow Parents of Nebraska, which opposes it, says: “This does NOT protect women as they like to claim.”
Missouri: Amendment 3, two questions in one
Missouri’s Amendment 3 was referred by the legislature, and it bundles two big issues. It would add to the constitution that “No gender transition surgeries shall be knowingly performed on children under eighteen years of age,” and ban puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors’ transition. It would also repeal the reproductive freedom right voters approved in 2024 and ban abortion with limited exceptions, per Ballotpedia. The opposition, Stop the Ban PAC, had raised $5.2 million by July, against $1.6 million for the supporting committee.
The two that expand rights
Virginia, Question 2. Same-sex couples have married in Virginia since 2014, but the 2006 ban is still in the state constitution. Question 2 would delete it and say two adults can’t be denied a marriage license because of sex, gender or race. We broke it down in detail here.
Vermont, Proposal 4. This would add a 23rd article to Vermont’s constitution guaranteeing equal treatment under the law regardless of characteristics including race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. It passed the House 128–14 in May, VTDigger reported, and needs a simple majority. If it passes, it would be Vermont’s third constitutional change in four years, after the 2022 amendments on slavery and reproductive healthcare.
How many people this touches
The numbers behind the sports fights are small; the reach of the rules isn’t. In Colorado alone, about 56,000 transgender and nonbinary people live in the state, roughly a quarter of them under 18, according to a state Legislative Council study cited by CBS Colorado. Verification rules like Washington’s apply to every student who wants to play on a girls’ team, trans or not, which is why critics worry about intrusive checks and forced outing.
What happens next
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Results can take days to certify, and new rules that pass don’t apply the morning after. Colorado’s Proposition 134 mirrors a federal policy that is already being challenged in the courts, CBS notes, so a yes vote anywhere may not be the last word. We’ll report the results as they come in.
If you vote in one of these states, the most useful thing you can do this week is simple: read the actual ballot wording, then talk to the people around you who vote there too.
