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The fight over transgender rights has become a major feature of the 2026 direct democracy landscape. Seven ballot measures restricting transgender participation in school sports and access to gender-affirming care in six states have already generated $13.4 million in campaign contributions, five months out from Election Day. More than three-quarters of the contributions have gone to committees backing the proposals.
Initiatives are on the ballot in Colorado and Washington that would restrict participation in school sports based on sex and prohibit biological males from participating in school sports designated for females. Two similar initiatives could be added to the ballot in Nebraska and Nevada, with signature deadlines just weeks away in both states. One initiative in Maine had initially qualified for the ballot but was removed after the secretary of state found that proponents did not submit enough valid signatures.
Voters in Colorado and Missouri will decide the fate of measures that would prohibit gender-affirming care for minors.
While many states have already enacted laws governing transgender participation in sports and access to gender-affirming care, the measures will give voters in multiple states a direct say on those issues at the ballot box, something that could drive voter turnout in November’s elections.
Committees backing the measures have raised a combined $10.3 million while committees fighting the measures have raised $3.1 million. Much of the funds come from dark money groups – politically engaged 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations that are not required to disclose their donors. In Nebraska, a single dark money group provided $3 million to gather signatures for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit biologically male students from participating in school sports designated for females.
Billionaire Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein contributed $800,000 to the committee supporting an initiative in Maine that would have required participation in school sports and bathroom usage to be based on sex as designated on a students’ original birth certificate. On June 11, a Superior Court judge upheld the secretary of state’s decision to remove the measure from the ballot after a challenge from the Protect Girls’ Sports committee.
In Washington, Brian Heywood, a Republican donor and CEO of investment firm Taiyo Pacific Partners, is bankrolling an initiative that would require genital exams or blood work for students participating in girls’ sports. His committee, Let’s Go Washington, has received $5.5 million in 2025 and 2026, with nearly $2 million coming from Heywood himself.
A PAC affiliated with Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) donated $25,000 to support an initiative to prohibit males from playing in sports designated for females. He has stated that the measure is part of his re-election strategy to get voters to the polls during this non-presidential election.
On the ballot: Competing dark money groups and nonprofits fuel fight between Protect Kids Colorado and Families Not Politics.
Colorado voters will decide on two ballot initiatives targeting transgender rights: One would prohibit gender-affirming surgeries for minors; the other would require K-12 and collegiate sports participation to be based on biological sex. The campaign behind both measures is Protect Kids Colorado, an issue committee that has raised $108,139 since 2025 and as of May 31.
The committee’s affiliated social welfare organization that shares the same name contributed $36,500. As a 501(c)(4), the group is not required to disclose its donors; however, its most recent tax forms show it received $84,000 in donations in 2024. Pro-life nonprofit Pikes Peak Citizens for Life gave $19,000 to the ballot issue committee.
Protect Kids Colorado was co-founded by Erin Lee, a Colorado mother who previously sued Poudre School District, stating that her daughter announced she identifies as transgender following an after-school Gender and Sexuality Alliance meeting at Wellington Middle School. The case made it to the Supreme Court, though the justices declined to hear it.
“Across Colorado, citizens are stepping forward because they believe the legislature has failed to protect children and families. When elected officials refuse to act, the people of Colorado are using their constitutional right to bring these issues directly to the ballot,” Lee said.
Families Not Politics, the committee fighting both measures, has raised $338,100 through May 31. Top donors included the One Colorado Education Fund ($101,500), Cobalt Advocates ($100,000), and Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood ($50,000). One Colorado Education Fund is a nonprofit that has received funding from The Colorado Health Foundation, the Gill Foundation, Transgender Law Center, Colorado Gives Foundation. Like Protect Kids Colorado, Cobalt Advocates operates as a 501(c)(4) organization that is not required to disclose its donors. Its 2024 tax forms showed it had received $2.2 million in donations that year.
Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, said, “Coloradans have always valued individual freedom and the rights of families to make private decisions without political interference, but these measures would go against those core values. One could expose students to invasive inspections just to play sports, while the other would place politicians between families and their doctors in deeply personal health care decisions. That kind of government overreach puts privacy and dignity at risk and doesn’t align with our Colorado values.”
On the ballot: Investment firm CEO gave nearly $2 million to his committee backing an initiative that could require genital exams to participate in girls’ sports.
An initiative in Washington would require school districts to prohibit biological males from competing with or against biologically female students in sports. Students choosing to participate in sports designated for female students would be required to submit a statement from a healthcare provider verifying the student’s biological sex based on their reproductive anatomy through a physical exam or through testing of genetic makeup or testosterone levels.
That initiative is backed by Heywood’s Let’s Go Washington. Since last year, the committee has raised $5.5 million, including $1.98 million from Heywood himself. Let’s Go Washington is also backing an initiative, already on the ballot, that would allow parents to opt their children out of sexual health education and is gathering signatures for another initiative that would repeal a recently enacted tax on households earning more than $1 million annually beginning in 2028.
Two opposition committees, Defend Washington and No Hate in WA State, have raised a combined $836,458, with top donors including the National Education Association ($250,000), Washington Education Association ($179,319), ACLU of Washington ($105,952) and SEIU 775 ($90,500).
On the ballot: Missouri Legislature is asking voters to repeal right to reproductive freedom they adopted in 2024 and prohibit gender-related care for minors.
Missouri’s Republican-controlled Legislature placed Amendment 3 on the ballot. It would repeal Missourians’ right to reproductive freedom adopted by voters in 2024, ban abortions with limited exceptions in the case of rape or incest, and prohibit gender-affirming care for minors. Missouri is one of 27 states with laws prohibiting or restricting gender-affirming care for minors.
Her Health, Her Future PAC has raised $321,745 in support of the amendment. Top donors include Drury Displays Inc. ($50,000), Drury Development Corporation ($50,000), GJ Grewe Inc. ($50,000), and L.B. Eckelkamp Jr ($50,000).
Opposition committee Stop the Ban raised $1.8 million with major support from the ACLU Foundation ($500,000), ACLU of Missouri ($100,000), The Fairness Project ($300,000), Abortion Action Missouri Foundation ($200,000), PROMO Missouri ($160,000) and various Planned Parenthood branches.
Gathering signatures: Nevada governor backs proposed initiative to prohibit biological males from participating in sports designated for biological females.
Signatures are due on June 24 for a Nevada initiative that would require school sport participation to be based on a student’s biological sex recorded on their original birth certificate and would prohibit males from participating in female sports.
The Nevada Independent reported it obtained audio of Lombardo describing the initiative as a part of his reelection strategy, expecting it to motivate Republican voters to turn out to the ballot box in a non-presidential election year.
The committee supporting the initiative, Protect Girls Sports PAC, received $25,000 from Lombardo’s Nevada Way PAC and $200,000 from Liberty Initiative Fund, a Virginia-based dark money group.
So far the committee has paid $200,000 to Morning in America, an Arizona-based political consulting firm run by Republican consultant Tim Mooney, which has worked on several ballot measure campaigns.
If enough valid signatures are submitted by the deadline, it would appear on the ballot in both 2026 and 2028 and would need to be passed by voters both times to take effect.
A lawsuit was filed by Sue Burtch, the executive director of the Nevada chapter of the National Organization for Women, seeking to have the initiative ruled invalid. The complaint alleges the initiative is misleading and therefore should be blocked from the ballot.
An OpenSecrets analysis of registered ballot question committees in Nevada did not identify committees registered to oppose the initiative.
Gathering signatures: Nebraska constitutional amendment prohibiting male students from participating in female sports funded by dark money group Restore the Good Life Inc.
A proposed constitutional amendment in Nebraska would prohibit male students from participating in school sports designated for females and would authorize the Legislature to pass laws to facilitate the amendment’s implementation.
The initiative is being bankrolled by Restore the Good Life Inc., a 501(c)(4) dark money group that has contributed $3.1 million to the supporting committee, Fairness For Girls. Restore the Good Life was incorporated in 2021 by Tanner Lockhorn, a conservative banker in Lincoln, around the time he was appointed to the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts (R). The committee also received $1,188 in in-kind contributions from Nebraska Family Alliance.
Nearly all of the funds – $3 million – were paid to Vanguard Field Strategies for signature gathering. To qualify for the ballot, approximately 126,000 signatures will be required. The deadline to submit signatures is July 3.
The initiative would embed in the state Constitution a policy that Nebraska already enacted last year. Legislature Bill 89, passed along party lines and signed by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, requires school sports participation to be based on the biological sex listed on a student’s original birth certificate. Nebraska is one of 27 states with such a law. The ballot measure would make that policy harder to reverse by requiring voters to approve another constitutional amendment to change it.
Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the progressive group Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, said the wave of anti-trans ballot initiatives is being used as “ballot candy,” functioning as hot-button issues that drive Republican voters to the polls.
An opposition campaign is now forming. On June 9, Second House Collaborative and OutNebraska registered a committee – Fairness for All – to oppose the amendment. Second House Collaborative is a progressive dark money group focused on direct democracy campaigns in Nebraska that received $1.8 million in contributions in 2024. OutNebraska, an LGBTQ advocacy nonprofit, said in a statement, “Transgender students in Nebraska are already navigating the effects of LB 89 being passed into law last year. This new initiative would permanently finalize that exclusion at the constitutional level, making it much harder for courts, future legislators, or the community to revisit it. Transgender students are not a threat to girls’ sports. They are kids who want to play.”
Removed from the ballot: Maine initiative to require school sports participation and bathroom use to be based on sex as designated on an original birth certificate removed from ballot
An initiative in Maine that would have required participation in school sports and bathroom usage to be based on sex as designated on a students’ original birth certificate was removed from the ballot after Secretary of State Shenna Bellows determined that proponents had not submitted enough valid signatures. Bellows had initially certified 71,033 of 82,000 submitted signatures as valid, but a closer examination following a lawsuit revealed duplicate signatures and signatures from unregistered and out-of-state voters, pushing the total below the required threshold. Maine requires 67,682 signatures to place an initiative on the ballot.
Three committees supporting the initiative had collectively raised nearly $1 million. The largest, Safeguard Girls Sports, brought in $950,000 — $800,000 of which came from Richard Uihlein, https://www.mainecampaignfinancedisclosure.com/public/filers/f_01kd8w6ftxewmtjpjcm51xnfb1the billionaire CEO of Uline, North America’s largest distributor of shipping and packaging materials. Uihlein and his wife, who have an estimated net worth of $6.8 billion, donated $146.5 million during the 2023-2024 election cycle. The committee also received $100,000 from Ohio-based dark money group Conservative Agenda for America and $50,000 from Florida-based Restoration of America. A second committee, Protect Girls Sports in Maine, received $50,000 from Safeguard Girls Sports, a $15,000 loan from Morning in America – the same Arizona firm active in the Nevada initiative campaign – and $16,850 from individuals. A third committee, the James Phinney Baxter Campaign Fund, raised $11,511.
On the opposition side, America Works USA, a progressive dark money group, transferred $75,000 to its ballot question committee registered to oppose the measure.
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