Colorado votes to restrict sports participation for transgender students

Colorado voters have passed a proposition that bars transgender students from playing on teams that align with their gender identity.

Proposition 134 was approved on Thursday, according to Associated Press, with 47.7 percent of voters opposing the measure and 52.3 percent in support at the time of the call. Ninety-three percent of ballots had been counted at the time the projection was made.

Proposition 134 will require trans students in state-funded schools, from kindergarten to college, to join teams based on their sex assigned at birth. So, trans girls will have to participate in men’s or co-ed teams, and vice versa.

The measure defines the gender of students by their reproductive organs and requires all students to verify their sex via a doctor's note or possibly an inspection or medical test. It also forbids a male student from joining a girls' team. Additionally, a female student cannot join a boys' team unless “no corresponding female team is offered for that sport,” the proposition stated.

Previously in Colorado, transgender students could apply to play on teams that correspond with their gender identity through a review process with the Colorado High School Activities Association, which may require an evaluation and letters from the student and parents.

The state is one of the most trans-friendly in the U.S.; applying to change one's gender on a birth certificate is comparatively easy and does not require surgery. A 2023 law protects the right to obtain gender-affirming care, even for minors.

Protect Kids Colorado, the group behind Proposition 134, framed it as an issue of fairness and safety for cisgender girls.

“We don’t want to take away any opportunities for females,” said Erin Lee, the organization's cofounder. Lee was motivated to campaign on the issue after her child joined a progressive art club and identified as transgender for one year.

“I care just as much about the males who are in this situation, but it’s a really hard situation for all the females, and do we sacrifice the safety, dignity, opportunity of all of the girls who are affected by this one biological male who’s competing on their team?” Lee told The Colorado Sun.

Proposed 134 was opposed by LGBTQ+ organizations like One Colorado and the Bread and Roses Legal Center, who saw the measure as "socially and politically cruel" toward LGBTQ+ youth.

“This is a very clear attack on trans girls,” said Z Williams, director of Bread and Roses Legal Center.

“Playing sports is an important and healthy part of growing up. People building a sense of who they are, learning how to work with a team, learning to lose. To take that away from kids simply for who they are is absurd. It is socially and politically cruel.”