Colorado voters approve measure banning gender-related surgeries for minors

Colorado voters approved Proposition 135, a measure banning certain gender-related surgeries for minors, following a campaign that featured debates about medical independence and appropriate care for young people.

The Associated Press had not called the race as of 9 a.m. Friday, but opponents of the measure issued statements Thursday evening conceding defeat. On Friday morning, the measure was passing with 52% of the votes counted in favor and 48% opposed. The difference amounted to more than 104,000 votes.

Both margins are similar to those for Proposition 134, which would restrict participation by transgender people in college and youth sports. The Associated Press projected Thursday that 134 would pass.

Because both measures amend state statutes, not the constitution, they needed a simple majority to pass.

“With the passage of Proposition 135, Colorado voters have delivered a clear message: protecting children from irreversible sex-change surgeries transcends party lines,” Erin Lee, one of the chief proponents of 135, wrote in a text message Friday. “Children deserve the chance to grow up with healthy, intact bodies, and a majority of Colorado voters agree that these life-altering decisions should be reserved for adulthood.”

In a statement issued Thursday, Nadine Bridges, the executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group One Colorado, condemned the result and said her organization would continue working to build understanding and support for transgender Coloradans.

“This outcome is painful, and it will have real consequences for young people and families across our state,” Bridges said in a statement. “To every transgender young person: You deserve to play, to access the healthcare you need, and to grow up in a state that supports you. You deserved those things yesterday, you deserve them today, and you will deserve them tomorrow. No election result can take away your dignity or belonging.”

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 may 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 135, the measure will 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.”

It is unclear whether state lawmakers will step in to better define what is banned and what is exempt. It is also possible that state regulators could take steps to clarify how the measure will be enforced.

Because the measure is statutory, lawmakers could make changes to it as early as January, when the new legislative session begins. Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat who Tuesday won the race to be the state’s next governor, said he expects the legislature to examine the new law closely.

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

Lee said doing so would amount to circumventing democracy.

“Weiser doesn’t get to celebrate the will of the voters when it puts him in office and disregard that same will when it produces a result he doesn’t like,” she said via text message Thursday.

With the passage of Proposition 135, Colorado joins 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 writers Jesse Paul and Jennifer Brown contributed to this report.