Colorado Democrats consider weakening voter-approved transgender policy measures 

Colorado Democrats are considering changes to two voter-approved measures restricting transgender participation in girls’ sports and sex-change surgeries for minors.

Last week, Coloradans voted to keep males out of girls’ sports and ban so-called sex-change surgeries for minors.

Gov.-elect Phil Weiser suggested he might undermine the voter-approved measures the day after the election.

“We’re going to have to take a look at these anti-trans measures and what adjustments are necessary and appropriate,” he said, according to the Colorado Sun.

Weiser hasn’t said what changes he wants, but fellow Democrats could weaken or repeal the new laws without another statewide vote.

Propositions 134 and 135 amend state laws, not the state constitution. That means lawmakers can rewrite them with simple majorities in both legislative chambers.

State Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, told the Sun she was working with opponents of the measures on steps lawmakers could take.

Both measures received about 52% of the vote. Colorado voters backed them even as some Democrats won statewide races with more than 60% of the vote.

Heartlander News reported last week that the campaign received support across party lines, according to Lori A. Gimelshteyn, executive director of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network.

Her group’s sister organization, Protect Kids Colorado, led the ballot drive, gathering more than half a million signatures for three proposals in six months.

Proposition 134 covers school sports from elementary school through college. It requires schools to designate teams as male, female or mixed, according to the ballot guide.

Boys cannot join girls’ teams. Girls can play on boys’ teams if their school does not offer a girls’ team in that sport. Anyone can play on mixed teams.

The measure also bars government bodies and athletic groups from punishing schools for keeping girls’ teams separate.

Weiser questioned how schools would verify athletes’ sex. However, the measure does not require genital exams. Schools and districts will set their own rules for determining who can play.

Protect Kids Colorado Executive Director Erin Lee said schools can check a birth certificate or a doctor’s note.

Proposition 135 bans so-called sex reassignment surgeries for minors and bars taxpayer money and health insurance from covering the procedures.

Both laws take effect Jan. 1.

Protect Kids Colorado Chairman Kevin Lundberg said voters took these concerns seriously after lawmakers ignored them for years.

“Protecting children is not a partisan cause. It is common sense, and voters across our state have demanded action,” he said in a statement.

Churches helped the campaign reach voters. About 500 Colorado churches allowed volunteers to gather signatures, Gimelshteyn told Heartlander News. The Colorado Catholic Conference also supported the measures.

“And just without the church, I don’t believe we would have won,” she said.

Lee hopes Weiser won’t undo the voters’ decision.

“If Phil Weiser intends to use the legislature to undermine the same democratic process that elected him, that’s his decision,” she told KUNC.

Lee also told CPR News that her group will continue working to ensure schools and medical providers follow the laws.

“Protect Kids Colorado is a movement that’s not going away,” she said.

(Featured image: Gov.-elect Phil Wieser, Phil Photos via Flickr / PDM 1.0.)