Franklin Co. joins growing opposition to transgender athletes in WA sports
Franklin County is joining a growing number of Tri-Cities groups pushing back against Washington state’s protections for transgender athletes.
The Franklin County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a resolution opposing transgender athletes competing in high school and college sports.
The resolution called the inclusion of transgender athletes “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls,” using language from President Donald Trump’s recent executive order.
Franklin County has no legal authority over school district policies. The resolution functions solely as a show of support. The commissioners did not announce any changes to athletics facilities that the county owns or helps operate, such as the HAPO Center.
Transgender athlete complaints
Chairman Clint Didier said he asked for the resolution to be put forward.
“This is all due to the misguided state electeds of the state of Washington, who just all recently doubled down and voted to entrench this into our school system,” Didier said. “They have lost their moral compass and as a county we need to stand against this and we gotta make it known that we will not go along with men competing in women’s sports in the school systems within our county.”
There is no evidence of any transgender athletes competing at schools in the Tri-Cities, though opponents say local athletes could have to compete against them during competitions in other parts of the state.
That is exceedingly rare though, the Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association estimates there are 5 transgender athletes competing in all of Washington state, according to the Seattle Times.
Recently Kennewick school board members have made a plea to the Trump administration to back their effort to ban transgender athletes. Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-WA, also promised his support for their efforts.
A Prosser track athlete also filed a federal Title IX complaint. Public track results show she has never competed against a transgender athlete.
La Center School District, in Clark County, also has filed a complaint. The Department of Education announced Monday that they would be launching an investigation in response to La Center’s complaint.
Franklin County Commissioner Stephen Bauman said they are doing their part to protect women.
“Thank you for bringing this forward, as a man that has been influenced through my life for a very long time by a lot of strong women, I have seven sisters, and have been around a lot of strong women for a long time,” Bauman said.
“Men and women are not equal, and when we put biological men in competition with women, it is not fair, it is not proper, it is not equal, and the people that believe that’s right should be ashamed of themselves and I’m proud to support this resolution today”
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM.
