Jay Fratt shares results of a school poll asking should biological boys play in girl’s high school sports?

Jay Fratt 
for Clark County Today

The most effective weapon of political gaslighting isn’t the lie — it’s the punishment for telling the truth. Right now in Washington state, that punishment is on full display. Parents, athletes, and ordinary citizens are watching as fairness in girls’ sports is erased and gender ideology forced into policy. They know it’s wrong. Many even agree with those who speak out. But they keep quiet — because they’ve seen what happens to the people who refuse to go along.

Up and down the I-5 corridor, reality is twisted to fit a narrative so bizarre it makes you question your sanity. Guardrails are set to keep thought moving in the “approved” ideological lane. Stray beyond them, and you’re met with shouts of shame, smears, and career-ending accusations. The message is clear: Stay in line, or be crushed.

Gaslighting only works when truth-tellers are made into examples. The public sees the punishment carried out in broad daylight and decides silence is safer. And so, the traffic of information keeps flowing — even when it’s heading in the wrong direction.

This isn’t just rhetoric. The effect of this propaganda campaign shapes public policy and has real-world consequences. It harms children. It violates women’s civil rights. In my first article for Clark County Today, “Scientific approach needed for gender-affirming care,” I exposed the pseudoscience propping up gender-affirming medical procedures for minors. The same reality distortion is now in play on the athletic field.

It’s happening across our state: A boy stands atop the podium at a state track meet in Seattle; a 15-year-old girl refuses to play against an 18-year-old male in a JV basketball game in Tumwater; even little La Center is now in the crosshairs of state agencies for its pushback on gender policy.

These are not isolated events — they’re the visible cracks in a system that survives by silencing dissent. The only way to stop it is to reject the fear, step out of the traffic, and turn the bright, unblinking light of truth on the lies.

It sounds absurd: Boys in girls’ sports! Yet in Olympia, the debate is dead serious. From voting patterns, school board stances, and general discussion around town, you’d think a majority of the population believes trans girls are girls, and their participation in girls’ sports is acceptable. For those that don’t know, Olympia is closer to Portland and Seattle than Tacoma or Vancouver politically.

The Thurston County Republican Party wasn’t content to rely on anecdotal claims of community support for biological boys in girls’ sports. A text poll set out to discover the community’s true position. Was the support real, or had a loud activist minority draped the town in an alternative veil of reality?

The poll zeroed in on two school districts – Tumwater and Olympia – and included only active registered voters with mobile numbers in the dataset. To ensure impartiality, it targeted independent voters with no party affiliation – the quintessential swing voters.

The program texted 27,982 total voters. This is a large sample size representing 54% of independent voters within both districts, and 35% of the total voter population in both districts.

The Poll Text:

[Tumwater/Olympia] School Poll: Should biological boys play in girl’s high school sports?

YES or NO

Please Respond {first_name}

Thank you

Pd by TCRP

STOP to END

We used clear, simple language to avoid confusion. The results surprised many in the community. For a “cold text” poll, the combined response rate was a strong 12%.

Here are the results:  

Olympia School District Poll: 

• 17,824 Texts Sent 
• 1,918 Responded 
• 372 Yes 19% 
• 1,546 No 81% 

Tumwater School District Poll: 

• 10,158 Texts Sent 
• 1,429 Responded 
• 170 Yes 12% 
• 1,259 No 88% 

Aggregate Polls: 

• 27,982 Texts Sent 
• 3,347 Responded 
• 542 Yes 16% 
• 2805 No 84%  

The results speak for themselves: Activist advocacy masks the reality of public sentiment. In fact, the very act of conducting the poll became a hot topic in the South Puget Sound. Bullying and shaming serve as the perfect cover for this virtuous gaslighting operation. 

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) are forcing school districts all over the state of Washington to participate in a social experiment that the broader public is not in favor of, and that violates the Title IX civil rights of girls and women. 

Along the I-5 corridor, one often hears the argument framed from the perspective of a child, born as a boy, who desires to be a girl. But society cannot trample the civil rights of a vast protected class of citizens to grant special privileges to an invented one. Has our society fallen so far that we cannot speak plainly about something as simple as the rights of school-age girls? 

The Thurston County Republican Party poll shows that even in the liberal stronghold of Olympia, there is strong support for the civil rights of girls and women. Voters can hold the common sense position of “no biological boys in girl’s sports” without being labeled a transphobe, or smeared by those trying to bully-shame their ideology into girls’ locker rooms. 

Looking ahead, no matter how you feel about the Trump Administration, Washington state faces an impending civil rights battle–one that could put federal school funding at risk. Which raises the final question: Are the politicians risking that funding the gaslit, or the gaslighters? Either way, the outcome will depend on whether citizens are willing to step out of the traffic, reject the fear, and confront the darkness with the hard light of truth.  

You can see the full poll results here. 

Jay Fratt is a citizen volunteer and journalist who resides in Washington state.

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