The Nevada Supreme Court heard oral arguments June 4 in the lawsuit seeking to toss out the ballot initiative that could ban transgender girls from playing in female sports.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo introduced the initiative in January. If approved by voters — twice in successive elections — it would amend the state constitution to require public schools and college athletics to categorize sports as male, female or co-ed, barring athletes assigned male at birth from competing in female sports.
In a recording obtained by The Nevada Independent, Lombardo described the initiative as his “game plan” to secure votes in November.
“We’re going to do this thing called Men in Women’s Sports,” Lombardo said in the recording, which received some cheers from the crowd. “I’m in the process of raising money for this ballot initiative to get the signatures to qualify and put it on the ballot. That’s going to get people to vote. And just by the groans in the room, I think you’re going to support it.”
The initiative follows a wave of similar efforts nationally — Nevada is one of at least three states with a transgender sports measure on the 2026 ballot. In October 2024, the University of Nevada, Reno’s volleyball women’s team forfeited a match against San Jose University after a transgender athlete on the opposing team was outed. The incident drew national attention and intensified calls for statewide restrictions.
Nearly two months later, Republican Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony formed a task force to “protect women’s sports.” The following month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”
Following the executive order, the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association reversed the 2014 policy that allowed transgender high school students to play on teams matching their gender identity.
Fighting words
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Sue Burtch, the head of the Nevada chapter for the National Organization for Women, originally sought to nullify the initiative entirely. The challenge was dismissed on Feb. 25 by Carson City Judge Jason Woodbury, who legally mandated new language be included on signature gathering forms. Lombardo needs 149,000 signatures by June 24 for the initiative to be on the ballot come November.
Burtch’s lawsuit contends the language is still “deceptive,” “misleading” and presents an “inappropriate separation of powers.”
At the June 4 hearing, attorney Keith Ketola, who represents the ballot initiative, told the Nevada Supreme Court that speculating how the initiative could trigger secondary consequences, could risk “confusing the public.”
“The fact is, the Nevada Constitution would be amended to require that athletic participation has to be based on biological sex,” Ketola said at the hearing.
Attorney Bradley Shrager, on behalf of Burtch, disagrees with Ketola.
“Anytime anyone gets uncomfortable being asked about the effects or anything beyond simply describing this, this is a constitutional amendment, we’re amending the Constitution. That becomes ‘argumentative.’ Can’t do that. It becomes ‘speculative.’ Can’t do that,” Shrager said. “Well, you’re engaging in a political act for particular reasons. You expect it to have effects. Why can’t we discuss them … You’re not just rolling the dice and hoping good things happen here, you’re doing this for a particular policy.”
There is no date scheduled yet for the Nevada Supreme Court to make a decision on whether the initiative can move forward.
