Protesters call on lawmakers to repeal two voter-approved transgender measures

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in downtown Denver Saturday demanding a full repeal of two voter-approved transgender measures, while the group that championed them says the voters have already spoken.

Proposition 134 passed by more than four points and requires K-12 and collegiate sports teams to be based on a student's sex assigned at birth. Proposition 135, which passed by nearly four points, bans gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

Governor-elect Phil Weiser called both measures anti-trans and said he wants to review them, saying voter-approved laws sometimes need changes to be workable.

"I will say, for example, I don't believe it would be acceptable to Colorado to have every student-athlete have to go through full body examinations or other invasions of privacy," Weiser said. "It's really important that we work to understand the will of the voters. It's important that we recognize sometimes, something is passed and it is incomplete. It is not administrable."

Z Williams, who helped organize Saturday's rally, said Prop 134 is too vague and could force students to undergo invasive checks to confirm their biological sex.

"That means that all children should be prepared to have to go through this, and that these procedures can be incredibly invasive. Whether it's a genital exam or the school district taking DNA samples and testing them, that also creates an issue in terms of privacy and just the the autonomy of those children," Williams said.

Protect Kids Colorado, the group behind both measures, said Prop 134 does not require genital inspections and that schools can verify a student's sex through existing records or a doctor's certification.

Williams said Prop 135, which bans gender-related surgeries for minors, strips families and doctors of private medical decisions.

"It's intimidation against medical providers about very private decisions and Colorado has long recognized that medical decisions should be private between the patient and their medical provider," Williams said. "It's very much targeted at surgeries for right now, which is a bit of a political strategy, really, because surgeries that are gender-affirming care for kids are performed so incredibly rarely."

When asked why Williams believed voters passed both ballot measures, they pointed to confusion over the ballot language.

"I think part of it is that people were confused and did not have clear language on the ballots in terms of what they were voting for, and got misled by things like protecting children and preventing harm to children," Williams said.

Protect Kids Colorado has a different view, saying voters have spoken clearly and the group's legal team is prepared to defend the measures.

"The people of Colorado were wiser than the opposition's well-funded misinformation campaign," said Erin Lee, executive director of Protect Kids Colorado.

Lee accused Weiser of making "calculated and disingenuous attempts" to justify changes to what voters approved.

"Governor-elect Weiser does not get to embrace the democratic process when it elects him and reject that same process when voters deliver an outcome he dislikes," Lee said.

Both Prop 134 and Prop 135 are statutory measures that change state law, not the constitution, meaning lawmakers can amend them.

Weiser pointed to Colorado's voter-approved natural medicine measure in 2022 as an example of a law that passed but still required lawmakers to fill in gaps through statute.

"Anytime you have a ballot measure that's statutory, it is a natural and, I believe, appropriate role of the Legislature to say what are the adjustments that need to be added?" Weiser said.

Williams said lawmakers should fully repeal both measures.

"You don't get to vote on people's civil rights. You don't get to vote on people's human rights," Williams said.