Overview
- Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Friday that his ballot question to limit transgender student-athlete participation will not appear on the November 2026 ballot because legal delays left organizers unable to meet the signature deadline.
- The Nevada Supreme Court ruled the measure legally valid one day before Lombardo’s statement, but campaign officials say the timing of court action and related uncertainty prevented collecting and submitting about 150,000 required signatures in time.
- The proposal would have restricted athletes to teams matching their sex assigned at birth and required school-sports authorities to label competitions male, female, or coeducational.
- Lombardo said he will press the Nevada Legislature to pass the policy in its 2027 session and, if lawmakers decline, he plans to try to place the question on the 2028 ballot, a path made uncertain by the state’s current Democratic legislative majority.
- Opponents and the lawyer who challenged the measure publicly condemned the effort and note that Nevada’s high school sports body does not track how many transgender students compete, leaving open questions about the law’s practical effects.