File Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel
This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | Two ballot measures that would restrict rights for transgender children in the state will appear on the Colorado ballot in 2026.
Protect Kids Colorado, a coalition led by prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist Erin Lee, submitted signatures in February for ballot measures that would prevent transgender children from participating in school sports and receiving gender-affirming surgeries. Lee led several anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives that the Colorado Title Board rejected ahead of the 2024 election.
There isn’t clear data on the number of transgender student athletes in Colorado, and the two major hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors in the state do not offer surgeries to minors.
“Across Colorado, citizens are stepping forward because they believe the legislature has failed to protect children and families,” Lee said in a statement. “When elected officials refuse to act, the people of Colorado are using their constitutional right to bring these issues directly to the ballot.”
LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations in Colorado oppose both measures.
“Coloradans have always valued individual freedom and the rights of families to make private decisions without political interference, but these measures would go against those core values,” Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, said in a statement. “One could expose students to invasive inspections just to play sports, while the other would place politicians between families and their doctors in deeply personal health care decisions. That kind of government overreach puts privacy and dignity at risk and doesn’t align with our Colorado values.”
Ballot Initiative 110 would prohibit health care professionals from knowingly performing any surgery on a minor “for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics.” The measure would also prohibit state and federal funding including Medicaid from being used to pay for gender-affirming procedures.
Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health have paused gender-affirming care for youth amid the Trump administration’s threats to pull Medicaid and Medicare funding entirely.
Ballot Initiative 109 would add language in state statute to define boys and girls based on physical anatomy, excluding transgender people.
Sports teams sponsored by schools or athletic associations would be required to expressly designate those teams for men, women or co-ed. Schools and their athletic departments would be required to adopt policies implementing the requirements of the initiative.
The measure would not affect any student’s ability to participate in co-ed sports.
The state’s commissioner of education would be tasked with enforcing the measure, and would have discretion to determine how to “take appropriate remedial action” against any school not in compliance with its requirements.
The Colorado secretary of state’s office verified that Initiative 109 had enough petition signatures Monday and that Initiative 110 had enough petition signatures Tuesday.
Bruce Parker, executive director of Rocky Mountain Equality, said Coloradans “don’t need outside interests to tell them how to raise their families.”
“In the coming months we are going to hear intentional lies from anti-trans extremists about this ballot measure,” Parker said in a statement. “They aren’t being honest about their agenda to erode privacy and access to credible medical care they don’t agree with. Their next targets are care for trans adults and abortion services if we let them get away with this.”
Protect Kids Colorado is also backing a ballot measure to increase penalties for child human trafficking in Colorado. The election will occur on Nov. 3.