Let's Go Washington amplifies girls' voices, and those of the frustrated public

Is their model reproducible in other Title IX-shirking states?

Update: Just since I posted this story this morning, Let’s Go Washington has received notification from the FBI that Antifa has threatened violence at a signing event this weekend in Tumwater. To be clear, these are volunteers standing at a table allowing passersby to sign a petition or read about ballot initiatives to strengthen communication between parents and schools, and to ensure girls’ sports are for girls. Ask yourself why girls asking for their Title IX rights elicits this kind of violent response. And there’s no both sides—the violence is all coming from one side.

Washington high school track star, Annaleigh Wilson, didn’t realize she’d placed second in a Junior Olympics 1600-meter race to a male until the medalists stepped to the podium. Other girls had been whispering that the winner was a boy, but it was quite a shock, unreal, when she saw it was true, and that she’d been betrayed by adults who were supposed to ensure fairness.

High schooler Francis Staudt refused to play against a girls’ basketball team that had a player who was “obviously male.” The school district investigated Francis for “misgendering, harassing, and bullying” the male player.

Sadie Sullivan, a competitive swimmer, was undressing in the girls’ locker room when she heard a male voice. Frantically, she tried to wriggle into her racing swimsuit before this boy came around the corner and saw her. She complained but word from the school was that if she was not okay undressing in front of a boy, she, and all the girls, could use the faculty bathroom while one boy had full access to the girls’ locker room. “Girls should never be told their feelings don’t matter,” Sullivan said. “Girls should never be pressured by adults to undress around boys. And girls should never have to sacrifice their safety for somebody else’s comfort.”

News coming out of Washington state is often disheartening—a boy winning a girls’ state track title for the second year in a row, boys taking girls’ awards and opportunities, and invading their locker rooms, enabled by school boards and state laws. It’s wildly unpopular with the public, but their views have somehow not translated to legislative action, to real change.

That’s where Let’s Go Washington comes in. Often described by local media as a conservative political action committee (in the same way that sex realist ideas are described as anti-trans), campaign manager Darren Littell says, “I think we are more common sense than conservative.”

The strength, and success, of LGW is its broad coalition of support, Littell said. “The outpouring of support on this issue is unlike anything we’ve dealt with. We’ve got a coalition of gays and lesbians, the Catholic church, Democrats and independents, people from across the political spectrum.” The LGW website says 57% of the people who sign their petition are Democrats or independents.

Signatures are the currency of the ballot initiative realm: LGW needs about 309,000 of them to present their initiatives to the legislature—one that strengthens communication between school and parents, and one to ensure girls’ sports is for females, as enshrined in Title IX. The legislature may pass an initiative into law, they may offer an alternative, or they may vote it down, in which case it would be placed on the ballot for voters to decide on.

The Washington Education Association has already given notice they will pounce on LGW’s biological definition of girl, echoing activists’ shrill warnings that girls’ sports for girls will necessarily involve invasive genital inspections that increase the risk of sexual abuse. This invented situation assumes these inspections will be done by random coaches or strangers on the sidelines just before a game. Which is a bizarre fabrication. “We’ve specified that verification of birth sex will be accomplished by the physician who conducts the sports physical all kids have to have before playing sports. To oppose that, the WEA would have to oppose pre-sports physicals.”

Rallies and a website, administrative staff and paid signature gatherers and legal advisors—LGW is not run on bake sales. It was established in 2022 by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, though Littell says he is not the sole funder. Littell estimates LGW will be able to hit the 309,000 signature requirement for each initiative with an investment of about $3.5M—quite reasonable in the world of political action.

“This is so common sense, there isn’t much appetite on the other side to fight it,” Littell said. “If it had been Brian [Heywood] out there saying girls’ sports should be for girls, it would have been easier to fight. But a couple of high school girls saying, enough is enough—no one wants to disparage that message or those messengers. It’s just so wrong. We’ve given these girls a platform, because they are the true victims. They are being harassed just because they want to compete fairly and safely. It started out with a few, but now every time we have an event, a parent will come up and say, the same thing happened to my daughter.”