For Kelsey Gellner, a Seattle-based pediatric nurse, a statewide proposal to bar trans girls from sports participation feels like a violation of her duty as a medical professional. The ballot initiative includes a requirement she calls “invasive and extreme”: all students who wish to compete on girls’ teams would have to undergo genital exams.

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Gellner said a genital exam was wholly different from a sports physical, which is used to determine metrics like vision and heart health and, crucially, doesn’t require a student to remove her clothing. She added that any policy that puts girls through intrusive medical procedures “opens up a can of worms” given the horrific crimes of Larry Nassar, an ex-USA Gymnastics doctor who was convicted in 2023 of sexually abusing girls for decades.

“While I believe that a vast majority of people who enter the medical profession do it for the right reason, writing legislation that opens the door to predators is just not responsible,” Gellner said.

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