Cascade Urges Voters to Reject Harmful Ballot Initiatives 001 and 638

Cascade Bicycle Club recommends voting NO on Initiatives 001 and 638 because they are in direct opposition to the core values we represent. These initiatives will have direct negative impacts on our work.

Cascade’s Values are core to everything we do. We center our work around: 

• Equity:  We lead with a racial equity lens to eliminate inequities in community health outcomes and in mobility and transportation access. Bicycles are a tool for liberation.
• Climate Justice:  Bicycles are a clean, healthy, and affordable solution to help solve the climate crisis, reduce transportation pollution, and create sustainable communities. 
• Community:  We create opportunities for people to come together by removing barriers and fostering a sense of belonging. Bicycles are an integral part of creating connected, equitable and thriving communities.
• Safety:  Safety is a right; we champion spaces that foster physical and emotional wellbeing.
• Collaboration:  We share power, resources, and knowledge as a means to enrich lives and form mutually beneficial partnerships. We celebrate the existing strengths of our partners and participants and seek to be an accessible asset for others.

These initiatives would negatively impact Cascade’s ability to deliver high-quality youth bike education and youth access to biking: 

• I-001 would erode trust between the students we serve in schools and their bicycle educators by dramatically reducing student privacy rights and potentially put the Cascade staff actively working in schools into positions requiring mandatory reporting on gender identity.
• I-638 would create barriers to participation in youth sports for ALL girls, including trans girls and nonbinary youth, putting youth bicycling at risk and reducing access. This is not hypothetical: The Washington Youth Cycling League follows WIAA guidelines for transgender youth. This cycling league would be required to comply with the new law if the initiative passes, creating a barrier to participation in youth sports for all girls, including trans girls and nonbinary youth.
• I-638 would require a healthcare provider to verify the student's biological sex using physical exams, genetic testing, or testosterone levels for ANY girl wishing to partake in school sports. This will have a chilling effect on girls' participation in sports including bike racing, resulting in negative physical and mental health impacts.
• I-638 is profoundly inequitable because no such requirement exists for boys' sports. That's contrary to Cascade’s values and undermines the intent of Cascade’s Women and Nonbinary programming, which encompasses Cascade’s adult education classes and rides, including Free Group Rides and the Revel Revolution Ride.

Hundreds of organizations across the state are also urging a NO vote including: The Washington State Nurses Association, Planned Parenthood Alliance, the Washington Education Association, the Washington State PTA, the ACLU of Washington, Metropolitan City Council, the City Councils of Seattle, Tacoma, Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline, and the Washington Academy of Family Physicians. Read more here.