Propositions 134 & 135 focus on sports and surgeries for transgender kids

Colorado has a reputation for being a trans-friendly state. Our laws which outlaw discrimination based on gender identity, make it easy for people to change their gender on birth certificates and drivers' licenses, and require non-gender bathrooms in public buildings.

But proponents of Propositions 134 and 135 say some of Colorado's laws go too far.

A recent study by the State Legislative Council found there are about 56,000 transgender and nonbinary identifying individuals in Colorado, about 25-percent of whom are under the age of 18. It is those minors who would be impacted by Props 134 and 135.

Since 2019, state lawmakers have passed ten laws regarding transgender and nonbinary individuals, including a law in 2021 that gave them protected class status under the state's Anti-discrimination Act. That led many public schools to adopt new policies that, among other things, allow kids to use the restrooms, locker rooms, and dorms of the gender they identify with, and play on sports teams that correspond to their gender identity.

Proposition 134 would change that. It would require all public schools - kindergarten through college - to designate sports teams as male-only and female-only and adopt policies that require students to play on the teams that align with their biological sex.

The state education commissioner would enforce the law, which mirrors a new federal policy being challenged in the courts.

Opponents say Prop 134 takes decision making away from parents and could lead to invasive exams to verify a kid's gender. They say the measure shames and isolates transgender students. 

Proponents say students who want to play sports are currently required to turn in forms signed by a doctor. Those forms, they say, can verify their gender.

They say it's unfair for biological males to take roster spots, awards, and scholarships from girls and, they say, it's unsafe for them to play on girls' teams due to their strength and stature.

Proposition 135 would ban certain surgeries for transgender kids.

Kids under 18-years-old could no longer undergo surgeries that alter biological sex characteristics if the surgeries are in response to their gender identity.

It also bans the government and private insurance companies from paying for the surgeries.

The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid, says it spent $2.7 million on gender affirming care for kids between 2023 and 2025. It didn't have a breakdown on how much of that went to cover surgeries.

Opponents say Proposition 135 - like Prop 134 - would take decision making away from parents as well as doctors. They say it could lead to insurers refusing coverage for other gender affirming care and even prevent surgeries for non-transgender kids who have features different from their biological sex like boys with large breasts.

Supporters note the measure makes exceptions for circumcisions, "medically verifiable disorders of sex development", and "acquired physical or chemical abnormalities". But it's unclear what disorders and abnormalities qualify.

Treatments like hormone therapy and puberty blocking drugs are exempt.  

Supporters say sex change operations shouldn't happen until kids have the maturity to make decisions that will impact them the rest of their lives.

The American Medical Association and American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommend waiting until age 19 for sex change operations.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has not weighed in on sex change surgeries specifically but says decisions about gender affirming care should be made by patients and physicians not government mandates.

27 other states have laws in place similar to Propositions 134 and 135.

The measures are statutory, not constitutional, so it takes a simple majority to pass them, and state lawmakers can change or repeal them.