^{Photo by Karollyne Videira Hubert}

^{Narrated by Jason Dempsey}

As we have previously reported, fewer than four thousandths of one percent (0.004%) of student athletes in the entire state of Washington are transgender. So, why are local government agencies spending taxpayer resources on matters over which they have no jurisdiction? Tumbleweird contacted Benton and Franklin Counties, as well as Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland City Councils to find answers. 

We also approached West Richland, as they were included in a “Call to Action” letter sent out by Benton County. But they decided to sit this one out. Mayor of West Richland Brent Gerry said in an email sent to us on May 14: “The City has not taken any formal action on the request for a letter.”

Franklin County

Franklin County, back on April 16, was first to pass a resolution. It was introduced by County Administrator Brian Dansel. 

Resolution 2025-0124: Protecting young women in sports. 

In the introduction of his resolution, Dansel — a former Trump USDA official — said:

This is at the direction of the Board of Commissioners. We wanted to put a resolution together that codified at least the Franklin County Board of Commissioners’ stance of protecting young women in sports. It references Title IX, and it references protecting not only the young women, but also their families and the people that go to watch them participate in the sport or event.

The Resolution includes claims such as: “In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports” which the resolution says is “demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports and activities.” 

Commissioner Steven Bauman was first to speak about the resolution at the April 16 meeting. Bauman said that even though he has “been around a lot of strong women” throughout his life, “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.” He also said that anyone who disagreed with this resolution “should be ashamed of themselves,” and that he was proud to support the resolution.

Commissioner Clint Didier followed Bauman and spoke about how Title IX “drove out junior college football.” Didier also said: 

[T]he misguided state electeds of the state of Washington who just recently doubled down, and voted to entrench this into our school system, 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.

Bauman and Didier repeatedly referred to trans girls as “men” participating in school sports. But the resolution was specifically aimed at high school and middle school sports. The first line of the resolution says: “Franklin County recognizes the importance of co-curricular activities and youth sports.”

The Franklin County Commissioners voted on April 16 to adopt the resolution unanimously. 

Benton County

Across the river in Benton County, an email was sent out by Brian Dansel’s counterpart, County Administrator Jerrod MacPherson, on April 18, just two days after the Franklin County resolution was adopted. 

The email titled “Call to Action – The Protection and Preservation of Girls Sports” was provided to us after a records request. According to the document’s metadata, the letter’s author appears to be Adam Fyall, Sustainable Development Manager for Benton County.

Macpherson sent the email Friday, April 18 to Richland City Manager Jon Amundson, Mayor of Richland Theresa Richardson, Kennewick City Manager Erin Erdman, Kennewick Mayor Gretl Crawford, West Richland Mayor Brent Gerry, Pasco City Manager Dave Zabell, Mayor of Pasco Pete Serrano, Franklin County Administrator Brian Dansel, and Franklin County Commissioner Rocky Mullen.

The initial email was this message written by Macpherson:

Please find attached a letter in support of a call to action for the protection and preservation of girls [sic] sports. Benton County has taken the lead in the preparation of this important regional support letter. The letter, addressed to the Legislative Delegations of Washington’s 8th, 9th, 14th, 15th, & 16th Districts, is intended as a unified regional voice in support for the protection and preservation of girls sports not only in our region but Statewide and asks that the fight be taken to Olympia on this important issue. Benton County asks for every jurisdictions [sic] support in signing on to this letter. I know that Benton County Commissioner Michael Alvarez has reached out to the Mayors and County Commissioners to let them know about this regional letter and has asked for their support.

 Please let me know as soon as possible whether or not your jurisdiction is willing to sign on and support this call to action letter.

At the top of the letter were the official seals to the cities of Richland, West Richland, Pasco, Kennewick, along with both Benton and Franklin Counties.

On the bottom of the letter are signature lines for all the elected officials mentioned above, along with Jerome Delvin, Benton County Commissioner. 

The contents of the letter include a call to action that is “asking our regional delegation to work with your colleagues from across the state and political spectrum to protect privacy rights, safeguard all-female locker rooms, and preserve the competitive integrity of girls’ sports.”

The letter also claims:

[W]e are seeing increasing instances where biological males who identify as girls and women enter women’s sporting competitions, and what happens is exactly what you would expect. Much of the time, the transgender athletes dominate the girls in these events, taking the rewards from competition from the girls and women who must grin and bear it as they buckle under the fear of a system that endorses this new cultural narrative.

Richland City Council

Richland City Council had a workshop scheduled on April 23 wherein Mayor Theresa Richardson introduced the “Call to Action” letter in the hopes of getting council approval to co-sign it. 

Two council members weighed in favor of the letter. Two others, Kurt Maier and Ryan Lukson, both recommended against signing. 

Maier spoke about how he believes the issue is not something anyone in the area is even facing: 

I think that this is politics in its most cynical form. It is pandering to a specific sense of fear. I strongly condemn the use of government time to draft this. 

We don’t have any actual numbers on how many people would be affected by any legislation on this topic. The closest thing we have to data is from the NCAA, where, in December of 2024, the NCAA President testified before Congress that of over 510,000 athletes … fewer than 10 would be affected by legislation like this. 

Maier said that such a resolution would affect vanishingly few students, if any at all, and could be handled on a case-by-case basis. “There is absolutely no reason to take any legislative action at any level on this topic, and I do not appreciate its introduction in two levels of government that are not otherwise involved with the administration of school sports,” said Maier.

Council Member Ryan Lukson echoed Maier’s point that school sports is not a City Council issue, saying, “I don’t, as a matter of principle, generally approve of City Council weighing into things that are not something that we can legislate.” He stated that he “would not be interested in signing the letter.”

Mayor Richardson spoke in favor of signing, saying, “I think that there isn’t [sic] enough stories out there of women being affected in the sporting arrangements that have allowed ‘biological men’ to participate, and that it becomes an issue of fairness and safety.” 

Richardson also falsely states that the signing of the letter is “concurrent with all of the other mayors in the community, and commissioners, as well,” and touts that as her reason for signing it.

When Mayor Richardson didn’t get enough votes to sign the letter at the workshop, she brought it back to the City Council on May 6, again seeking permission to sign. This time, all council members were present at the meeting, including council member Sandra Kent, who added her voice to those who were bringing attention to the fact that the issue wasn’t under the purview of the city council. 

Three voted against signing and four voted for signing the letter. 

Objections

In Mayor Gerry of West Richland’s email saying that they did not sign the letter, he also said:

 It is important to note that the subject of the requested letter does not pertain to official City business or fall within the scope of the City’s responsibilities, and as such, no further action is anticipated unless directed otherwise by the City Council. Should the matter come before the City Council or require further review, it will follow the City’s standard procedures for consideration.

The City of West Richland remains committed to focusing on matters directly related to its operations and services to the community.

At the Ben Franklin Transit Board Meeting on May 8, County Commissioner Will McKay brought up the “Call to Action” letter and thanked all in attendance for supporting it. Kurt Maier spoke up to remind McKay that he didn’t support the letter, and had not agreed to sign it. 

There have also been many community members speaking out against restricting access to sports for trans, nonbinary, and intersex students. (See tumbleweird.org/transpective-let-trans-kids-play-sports and tumbleweird.org/level-playing-field). 

Quoting my own high school varsity athlete daughter on the subject of government agencies signing this letter: “My opinion on this issue is that … [the council members] shouldn’t be taking part in a school sport thing, and it is for the school to decide. I don’t think it is a real issue.”

The few studies that exist regarding trans people in sports show that a statistically insignificant number of people in sports are trans. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living published a study conducted by Dr. Douglas Oberlin which concluded that restricting the tiny percentage of trans athletes from sports would not solve the problem of inequity in the sports:

There is no concern for restricting individuals who are exceptionally large or small, those who are genetically gifted, or those with differing hormone concentrations or muscle mass, so long as their gender and biologic sex align. The disproportionate focus on the relatively small portion of the population who are trans seems based on the belief that cis men, who cannot succeed in sports among other cis men, would choose to misidentify as trans women to gain an advantage in sports against cis women. However, there are no legitimate cases of this occurring. An individual’s sex does not determine their success or failure at any athletic event despite the high level of competition.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study which focused on the benefits of including trans people in sports. The experts urged policy-makers to consider the mental health outcomes of their citizens:

Trans people face significant barriers to sport/fitness despite experiencing significant mental health and personal benefits from participation. Affirming and including trans people in sport and fitness should be a key priority for sport and fitness federations, organisations and policy-makers.

The uncertain future of sports

It is important to note that Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland all host youth sports in their respective cities. They all also host co-ed sports for kids up through middle school. 

Since this letter, which was signed by a number of commissioners and city council members — as well as many of the comments at their board meetings — touts ‘safety’ as a major concern when children of different genders play sports together, we asked all three cities if they were planning to ban the co-ed sports that they are currently running in their cities. They were also asked if they would be conducting genital checks on children to make sure they weren’t playing on the ‘wrong’ team; and if not, how they were planning to enforce the rules they wanted to put into place. 

Kennewick’s City Manager Erin Erdman replied:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the recent joint letter concerning girls’ sports that was signed by various regional elected officials.

The letter represents a position statement directed to our state legislators, requesting that they examine this complex issue at the state level. It does not constitute a local policy change or directive for Kennewick Parks and Recreation programs, which continue to operate under existing state laws and regulations.

Our current recreational programs, including the co-ed options you referenced, remain unchanged and open to all participants in accordance with Washington state non-discrimination laws. The city has no plans to implement any verification processes that would violate privacy rights or medical privacy, nor are we directing staff to create new restrictions.

The intent of the letter was to encourage state-level discussion on competitive scholastic sports — specifically how to balance inclusivity with the original intent of Title IX protections for girls’ athletic opportunities. It was not meant to address recreational co-ed programming, which serves different purposes than competitive single-gender scholastic sports.

We remain committed to providing recreational opportunities for all community members while following applicable state laws and regulations.

Pasco City Council member Blanche Barajas asked to see the letter and was sent a copy. No other elected officials replied to our outreach. 

A lifelong resident of Eastern Washington, Dori enjoys the outdoors, her family, and making good trouble. She has worked for many years in broadcasting and reporting and believes in the value of the 4th estate. She is a true community advocate that loves Washington.