Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo is heading a petition drive to bar biological males from girls’ scholastic sports, seeking to put the issue directly before the voters after being thwarted by the Democrat-led state legislature.
The Republican governor said that the proposed constitutional amendment, known as the Protect Girls’ Sports initiative, “gives Nevadans a voice this November to ensure our female athletes are protected and compete on a fair, level playing field.”
“I am proud to serve as the Honorary Chair to lead this effort to preserve the integrity of girls’ sports for today’s female athletes and future generations of Nevadans,” Mr. Lombardo said in a Wednesday statement.
The proposal filed this week would amend the state’s 2022 Equal Rights Amendment, which bans discrimination based on factors including gender identity, to prevent schools and other entities that receive public funds from allowing male-born athletes in female sports.
Nevada is one of 21 states and the District of Columbia that permit scholastic athletes to compete based on gender identity. The other 28 states have passed laws or regulations prohibiting male-born athletes from female sports.
In Nevada’s case, it’s not for a lack of trying. Republican bills to bar biological males from female sports have been dead on arrival in the state legislature, where Democrats control both houses.
No state has managed to put the transgender-athlete issue on the ballot, although this could be the year. Citizens’ groups in Colorado and Washington are also working to bring the issue before the voters in November.
In Nevada, enshrining the initiative in the state constitution won’t be easy.
Organizers of the Protect Girls’ Sports PAC would need to gather at least 148,788 valid signatures from across the state to qualify for the November 2026 ballot. The deadline to file signatures is June 24.
Once approved, the proposed amendment would need to win passage in November 2026 as well as November 2028.
In addition to Mr. Lombardo, the PAC is being led by Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama, a Republican; attorney Adriana Guzman Fralik, a candidate for the GOP nomination for Nevada attorney general; and Erica Neely, a Republican candidate for an open Assembly seat.
“Protecting girls’ sports is paramount to preserving opportunities for girls across our state,” Ms. Kasama said in a statement. “We’re taking a stand against this attack on common sense and inviting every voter to join us to show that Nevadans will protect and defend the rights of young women and girls.”
Not incidentally, the measure could also wind up benefiting GOP candidates in November. Polling shows that nearly 80% of voters oppose biological males who identify as female participating in female sports.
Even so, Democrats have continued to stand with transgender athletes seeking to compete based on gender identity.
Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nod, blasted the proposed initiative, calling it “hateful.”
“I think that this is all about politics to drive Republican turnout and it’s unacceptable and really a nonissue in Nevada,” she told the Nevada Independent.
Attorney General Aaron Ford, who’s running against Ms. Hill in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, called the effort a “political ploy” to boost Mr. Lombardo’s reelection bid.
He also said that “he doesn’t personally support transgender athletes playing in sports that don’t match their sex assigned at birth,” according to the Independent, which paraphrased his statement.
That comment prompted Republicans to remind him that he was part of an 18-state coalition that submitted a 2023 brief in support of two transgender athletes challenging Arizona’s ban on biological males in girls’ sports.
🚨LET’S GO! Nevada Gov. @JoeLombardoNV is leading a ballot initiative to put the power to PROTECT GIRLS’ SPORTS directly in voters’ hands this November.
UNR’s women’s volleyball team forfeited and stood up to their university and the NCAA ahead of a matchup against a male… pic.twitter.com/rl2YDskRYu
— ICONS (@icons_women) January 7, 2026
Nevada was home to a transgender-athlete outcry in 2024 after the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team forfeited a match against San Jose State University in California rather than play against a male-born player.
Since President Trump took office, however, the debate has focused largely on junior college and high school athletics.
Both the NCAA and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the nation’s two largest collegiate-sports governing bodies, have approved policies requiring athletes to compete based on biological sex at birth.
The NCAA rule was announced Feb. 6, a day after Mr. Trump signed his Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports executive order.
