With push from evangelicals and Catholics, five states to vote on transgender proposals
Also on ballots: church closures, parental rights, student-led prayer, gay nuptials
Voters in at least seven states will be voting in November on matters that have been important to conservative evangelical Christians in recent years. The issues have been placed on state ballots either by petition or legislative referral.
Five of the states will be voting on ballot measures related to transgender students or minors, in most cases by petition efforts organized by evangelicals and conservative Catholics. Other states will vote on issues as varied as prayer in schools and mandatory closure of churches during public emergencies.
Here’s a quick look at the ballot measures1:
Alabama: Student-led prayer
The Require Pledge of Allegiance and Allow Student-Led Prayer in Public Schools Amendment is a proposed change to the state Constitution that would require public schools to have a daily Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag each day as well as a student-led prayer. Students would be allowed to opt out of either the pledge or the prayer “based on their own beliefs.”
The proposed amendment does not specify how the student-led prayer would be conducted, leaving such details up to local school boards.
The proposal was placed on the ballot via unanimous Republican support and divided Democratic support. The Alabama House approved the amendment on a 94-3 vote, while the Senate did so on a 24-6 vote.
Colorado: Transgender surgeries and athletics
Petition efforts led by Catholic and evangelical Protestant interests led to two transgender-related issues being placed on the ballot. They are the proposed Protect Children from Irreversible Sex Change Surgery Act and the Sex Requirement for School and College Sports Initiative.
The first measure would prohibit health care professionals from performing or providing surgeries to persons under age 18 for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics, and the second would require student athletes at the K-12 and collegiate levels to play on teams that match their sex, defined as biological reproductive systems. The main groups behind the measures were the Colorado Catholic Conference and Focus on the Family.
A coalition called Families Not Politics is opposing the two measures. Members of that coalition include Planned Parenthood, the Interfaith Alliance and Rocky Mountain Equality.
Maine: Transgender athletics
The Birth Certificate Sex Requirement for Public School Sports Initiative was placed on the ballot by petition. It would require that public school sports teams designated for girls or boys be limited to students of the corresponding sex, as recorded on their original birth certificate.
Leaders of the campaign for the initiative include the Maine Republican Party and various Republican public officials.
The initiative is opposed by individual Democrats that include the governor, Janet Mills. Groups in opposition include the American Academy of Pediatrics (Maine chapter), Equality Maine, the Maine Council on Aging and the Maine Women’s Lobby.
As of January, the initiative’s supporters had raised $800,000 in campaign funding. There were no groups in opposition that had filed a report.
Missouri: Abortion and gender transition
Amendment 3 was placed on the ballot by the Missouri Legislature on close to party-line votes, with Republicans supporting it and Democrats in opposition. (One Republican in each the House and Senate voted with Democrats.) The votes in favor were 103-51 in the House and 21-11 in the Senate.
Amendment 3 would:
🟪 Repeal the constitutional right to reproductive freedom approved by voters in 2024.
🟪 Prohibit abortions except in cases of “medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape, or incest,” and permit abortions in cases of rape or incest only through 12 weeks of gestation.
🟪 Prohibit gender transition surgeries for minors, as well as the prescription or administration of cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to minors for the purposes of gender transition.
Opponents of the amendment appear to have an overwhelming campaign financing advantage. At last report they had raised $2.2 million compared with about $322,000 for the supporters.
Virginia: Same-sex marriage and reproductive freedom
Measures placed on the ballot by the Virginia Legislature are the Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment and the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
The first would eliminate an unenforceable provision of the state Constitution limiting a marriage contract to one woman and one man. The second would recognize a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”
Reproductive freedom is defined as “including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.” It would allow state lawmakers to regulate third-trimester abortions except in cases of fetal inviability or when “in the professional judgment of a physician is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”
Both measures cleared the Legislature with unanimous Democratic support. Republicans opposed both measures, although a small number of them voted with Democrats on the marriage amendment.
Washington: Transgender sports and parental rights
Two ballot measures on the Washington state ballot were put there by initiative signatures: the Sex Verification Requirements for Female School Sports Initiative; and the Parental Right to Review Education Materials, Receive Notifications, and Opt Out of Sexual-Health Education Initiative.
The first would require school districts and nonprofit organizations that regulate interscholastic activities to “prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students” in sports with separate team or individual competitions for male and female students. Students wanting to participate on female teams would be required to provide documentation of their sex from a health care provider.
The second measure would reinstate the Washington Declaration of Parental and Legal Guardian Rights (Initiative 2081), which was passed by the Legislature in 2024 but then amended in 2025.
In doing so, the initiative would re-enact these parental rights:
🟪 To receive prior notification about medical services being offered to their child, except in medical emergencies.
🟪 To receive prior notification about medical services or medications provided that could affect the parent’s or guardian’s health insurance costs.
🟪 To receive prior notification when the school arranges medical treatment that requires follow-up care after school hours.
Among other changes, the initiative also would repeal or modify various other rights that lawmakers enacted in 2025.
Both initiatives have been promoted by a coalition of Christian conservatives that includes Catholics and evangelical Protestants.
Opponents include the state’s Democratic Party and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Wisconsin: Emergency church closures
Wisconsin’s Prohibit Government Closure of Places of Worship During Emergencies Amendment comes in the aftermath of the covid epidemic. It would prohibit the state or any political subdivision from ordering the closure of or forbidding gatherings in places of worship in response to a state of emergency, including public health emergencies.
The proposed amendment was placed on the ballot by the Legislature with unanimous backing from Republicans and nearly unanimous backing from Democrats.
Most of the information in this article about legislative history and campaign fundraising is based on reporting by Ballotpedia.