Measure that would ban gender-related surgeries for minors in Colorado is too close to call

Colorado voters are closely divided on a ballot measure to ban certain gender-related surgeries for minors, following a campaign that featured debates about medical independence and appropriate care for young people.

As of 11:30 p.m., Proposition 135 remained too close to call, with 51.5% of tabulated voters in favor of the measure and 48.5% opposed. Because the measure would amend state statutes, not the constitution, it needs a simple majority to pass.

The debate around Proposition 135 primarily focused on surgeries for youth who identify as transgender. There is no hospital in Colorado that says it currently provides those surgeries to youth under the age of 18. Proponents of the measure cite contested research to argue that at least some hospitals are lying, which the hospitals deny.

But the wording of the measure could also apply more broadly, meaning it could also impact some surgeries for non-transgender youth. In the run-up to the election, Colorado hospitals declined to say which surgeries they currently perform would be banned under the measure. Opponents of Proposition 135 said the vague wording of the measure and its exemptions mean medical professionals would have to guess about what was and wasn’t banned.

According to the text of Proposition 135, the measure would prohibit healthcare professionals and others from knowingly performing, prescribing, administering or providing “any surgery to a minor for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics.”

The measure defines “altering biological sex characteristics” as “treatment in response to a minor’s perception of sex or gender.” There are exceptions for male circumcision, as well as for people born with “a medically verifiable disorder of sex development.” There is also an exemption for “acquired physical or chemical abnormalities.”

If Proposition 135 passes, Colorado would join 27 other states implementing restrictions on care for transgender youth.

The measure was backed by a group called Protect Kids Colorado, which also supported Proposition 134, which concerns participation by transgender people in school and college sports, and Proposition 133, which increases penalties for child trafficking.

Both 134 and 135 were part of a nationwide focus this election cycle on transgender issues, with voters in five other states considering ballot issues around medical care or sports participation. Separately, The Associated Press reported last week that Republicans had spent $183 million nationwide on television ads attacking Democrats over transgender issues as part of a counter narrative to Democrats’ focus on economic issues.

But in Colorado, Protect Kids Colorado raised significantly less money than groups opposing 134 and 135. The committee reported about $460,000 in contributions through mid-October. The largest donors included a 501(c)(4) nonprofit tied to Protect Kids Colorado as well as conservative Christian leaders and organizations.

The main opposition group, a coalition called Families Not Politics, reported raising more than $3 million through mid-October. Top donors included Planned Parenthood, One Colorado and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Another issue committee, The People’s No, also fought 134 and 135. That group raised about $365,000, most of it from the ACLU and the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. 

Finally, Vote Common Sense, a third issue committee formed to fight an array of conservative ballot measures this year, also spent against propositions 133, 134 and 135. It raised about $1.1 million this year, much of it from the Green Advocacy Project; Denver philanthropist Merle Chambers; and the Colorado Fund for Children and Public Education, which is tied to the state’s largest teachers union.

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.

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