Brian Heywood and Let's Go Washington (LGW) officially launched two new citizen initiatives aimed at the 2026 Washington State Legislature. These initiatives focus on restoring parental rights in education and protecting girls' sports by restricting participation based on biological sex.
LGW, known for its successful 2024 efforts, such as Initiative 2081 (the Parents' Bill of Rights) and Initiative 2066 (protecting natural gas access), is positioning these as responses to recent legislative changes by Democrat majorities.
Parental Rights vs. Progressive Power Grabs
Details of the Initiatives:
1. Parents' Rights Initiative IL26-001 – STRENGTHEN COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PARENTS AND SCHOOLS (Repeal of House Bill 1296)
Background: This initiative aims to repeal HB 1296, which was signed into law on May 20, 2025. HB 1296 amended Initiative 2081, which passed with bipartisan support in 2024 after gathering over 448,000 signatures (the fifth-most in Washington history). I-2081 required schools to notify parents about their child's educational and health matters, including mental health, medical decisions, and gender-related issues, preventing schools from withholding information. It focused on ensuring that parents were informed about their children's activities at school, and schools did not have the authority or ability to keep secrets from parents.
Changes in HB 1296: Democrats gutted I-2081, saying it violated student privacy laws and vulnerable students, such as LGBTQ youth. With this change, Dems slapped parents in the face, while schools keep secrets about their kids. It limits and delays notifications, restricts access to records, prioritizing school staff over parents. Dems also inserted legal roadblocks, forcing families to jump through hoops before holding schools accountable—and gave OSPI the power to pull funding if districts didn’t comply. Heywood described it as allowing "bad actors" to hide information, eroding trust in public education. Senate Minority Leader John Braun, said Dems, “Ignored the will of WA voters and continued their assault on parental rights. Not a single Republican supported this legislation.”
Initiative IL26-001 Provisions: The new measure would streamline the repeal to restore I-2081 exactly as originally passed, (re-enact RCW 28A.605.005), ensuring parents are the "Primary Stakeholders" in their child's education without broad exceptions for privacy. Heywood noted, "We’re simply repealing what happened in 1296 and returning the law to I-2081."
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, vehemently opposed HB 1296, saying:
“When you turn schools into your personal ideological social engineering playground so you can create mindless robots who don't know how to read and do math, but know how to express all 57 progressive fake genders, then the Democrats and the progressives have won, because these kids have been conditioned and engineered to agree with them on radical social issues that are honestly destroying masculinity. We're ruining a generation of kids and setting them up for failure, and that's what breaks my heart the most.”
IL26-001 empowers parents, especially working families with limited time, to stay informed of their children. Over 57% of I-2081 signers identified as Democrats or Independents, highlighting broad appeal.
2. Girls in Sports Initiative IL26-638 – PROTECT FAIRNESS IN GIRLS’ SPORTS (Protecting Female Athletics)
Background: This initiative addresses what most see as unfair advantages in girls' and women's sports due to transgender participation policies. WA state law currently prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in public schools, allowing transgender girls to compete in girls' sports. Democrats would rather push their woke ideology, even at the expense of fairness for female athletes.
Key Provisions: The initiative requires student athletes to obtain a pre-participation physical from a physician or healthcare provider, certifying that they are biologically female (born female), to participate in girls' sports. It builds on existing requirements for physicals but adds a sex-based verification. Heywood described it as "really that simple," aimed at preserving "fairness and integrity" without broadly limiting opportunities.
Rationale: Heywood says Washington's policies are "out of alignment" with national trends and they are pushing a narrative "incredibly unfair to girls in sports," citing physical advantages. The measure consulted stakeholders, including parents of transgender students and mental health providers, to balance accessibility. It aligns with the federal Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act passed in 2025, which bans transgender girls from female sports in federally funded schools. This initiative is common sense: if sports are labeled “girls,” then only biological girls get to play.
Heywood said: ”The law already requires student athletes to get a physical from their doctor, or from their healthcare provider, before they can play in sports. And that already requires them to have a biological declaration of male or female. So, the initiative states that, using the existing requirement, if you're going to play in a sport designated for females, you must have a record that already requires you to participate in sports, which verifies that you're a female, in order to play in a female sport, it would keep biological males out of female sports.”
In April, the U.S. DOE and the U.S. DOJ launched a formal investigation into OSPI over concerns that the agency may be enforcing policies that violate federal law when it comes to allowing biological males to participate in girls’ and women’s sports and use female-only facilities.
Heywood said, “Giving up isn’t an option. Washington families deserve better than a government that hides from parents and destroys girls’ sports in the name of politics. LGW will use paid signature gatherers and volunteers for both initiatives. We need about 309,000 signatures, but we’re going to shoot for about 400,000 signatures.” More info at letsgowashington.com, to inquire about volunteering and/or to order petitions.
As a reminder, LD 26 State Senate candidate Michelle Caldier voted to protect parental rights. Please vote for Michelle in November 2025 to help restore common sense and sanity back to the legislature.
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