Arizona voters have approved Proposition 318, a ballot measure that expands sex-based rules for school sports teams and private spaces like locker rooms to both public and private schools statewide. The measure was passing with 58.23% of the vote to 41.77% against, out of more than 1.88 million votes cast, as of the early Tuesday night tally.
According to a race call by the Associated Press reported by KJZZ, Arizona voters approved the ballot measure to ban transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not align with their sex as recorded on their birth certificate at birth. The same outlet reported that the measure bans schools and athletic associations from letting students use bathrooms, locker rooms, or other private spaces that don't align with their “biological status as male or female” as recorded on an original birth certificate. The proposal defines sex using that same birth-certificate standard, according to The Hill.
Proposition 318 requires public and private schools, along with athletic associations, to designate sports teams as male, female, or co-ed based on biological sex, per the same report. Before the vote, rules around sex designations for sports teams applied only to public schools and their competing rivals, The Hill noted. The measure would also extend to organizations that sponsor intramural athletics, according to seed reporting from 12News. The team-designation and private-space requirements are set to take effect January 1, 2027, according to the text of the measure published by Protect Girls Sports in AZ.
Building on a 2022 Law
Arizona already had a law on the books, passed in 2022, that restricts transgender girls from competing on girls' school sports teams and requires teams to be designated as boys', girls', or co-ed based on biological sex. That law allows athletes of the male sex to participate on boys' or co-ed teams while barring them from girls' teams, per 12News. Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, a supporter of Proposition 318, co-sponsored that 2022 measure, known as the Save Women's Sports Act, and later helped defend it in court, 12News reported. Petersen said he had heard concerns directly from female athletes, according to the outlet.
Proposition 318 was referred to the ballot by state Republican lawmakers earlier this year and was opposed by legislative Democrats, per the same KJZZ report. The measure would place sports eligibility requirements into voter-approved law, making them harder for future lawmakers to change, 12News noted. Gov. Katie Hobbs had vetoed similar legislation in 2023, 2024, and 2025, KJZZ reported.
How Many Students Are Affected
The Arizona Interscholastic Association, which oversees athletic programs for roughly 170,000 students statewide according to the Arizona Mirror, reported that fewer than 20 transgender student-athletes participated in Arizona high school sports from 2014 through 2022, per 12News. The first transgender athlete was approved to participate in Arizona high school sports in 2014, and the 2022 state law changed the rules affecting that participation, according to the same report. Separately, the Arizona Mirror reported that only 16 trans students were allowed to join a public school sports team consistent with their gender identity from 2017 through 2022, and that the 2022 law barred two girls from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association has said there has been no transgender participation in Arizona high school sports for several years because of existing state law and federal policy, 12News reported. Arizona high school athletics recorded more than 110,000 sports participations during the most recent school year, per the AIA figures cited by 12News.
Supporters and Opponents React
Supporters of Proposition 318 said the measure would protect fairness in girls' sports and privacy in athletic facilities, according to 12News. Opponents countered that the vote figures show it would expand restrictions affecting only a small fraction of student-athletes, while also affecting others who use sports facilities more broadly, the outlet reported.
Casey Clowes, a spokesperson for the Will of the People campaign, which opposed the measure, said it sends a message that some people are unwelcome and that Arizona is not inclusive. “I don't think the measure reflects what Arizona is about,” Clowes said, according to 12News. The measure was considered one of the most talked-about and controversial propositions on Arizona's 2026 midterm ballot, per the same report.
