A group seeking to repeal a state rule allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify failed to collect enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure for the November ballot but says it is not giving up on efforts to change the regulation.
The group supporting the proposed Initiative 1515 cancelled a Friday morning appointment to turn in signatures. In order to qualify for the ballot, 246,372 valid signatures of registered state voters are required for initiatives.
According to the Just Want Privacy website, they had collected just 190,985 signatures, far short of the 325,000 the secretary of state’s office recommends, in case of any duplicate or invalid signatures.
Washington is among 18 states and scores of cities that have public accommodation laws that protect transgender people.