BOULDER, CO (October 27, 2026) — In this month’s episode of NEPC Talks Education, hosts Bethy Leonardi and Zander Nowell are joined by a Colorado mother of a 12-year-old transgender girl and by Scott Skinner-Thompson, a professor in University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Law. Together, they examine two citizen-initiated Colorado ballot measures targeting transgender youth.
Proposition 134 defines male and female strictly by biological reproductive systems, requiring schools and athletic associations to designate sports teams by sex. If passed, it would effectively ban transgender girls from participating on girls' teams. Proposition 135 prohibits healthcare professionals from performing surgeries for gender-affirming treatment on minors and bans the use of state, federal, Medicaid, or insurance funds for these procedures.
Nowell explains that these measures are part of a wider national trend. Since 2020, 29 states have restricted sports participation based on gender, and 27 states have banned gender-affirming surgeries for minors. He notes that this election cycle marks the first time these policies are being pursued via direct ballot measures rather than state legislatures.
In her anonymous interview, the Colorado mother shares how her fear that her daughter would lose access to specialist care was realized when federal funding restrictions forced clinics to close. Reflecting on the potential impact of Proposition 134, she shares a poignant conversation with her 12-year-old daughter, who transitioned when she was six years old. "I talked to her about how it would feel if she wasn't allowed to play on a girls' team," the mother says. "And she said, 'Well, I probably wouldn't play then.' It’s kind of that simple and so sad."
Professor Skinner-Thompson, an expert in constitutional law and LGBTQ+ civil rights, warns that laws like these on the Colorado ballot do not operate in isolation. "They work together and are operating to push trans people from public life altogether," Skinner-Thompson states, drawing a structural parallel to Jim Crow-era laws designed to exclude marginalized groups from the public sphere.
Skinner-Thompson also addresses the broader threat to democracy when the majority is permitted to vote on the civil rights of a vulnerable minority—especially youth who cannot vote. Colorado’s historical precedent, 1992’s Amendment Two, would have banned anti-discrimination protections for LGB individuals. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately struck it down, because laws motivated by pure animus are unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.
Furthermore, he notes that Proposition 134 opens the door to invasive policing of all children's gender expressions, while Proposition 135 represents a "massive invasion of individual medical authority" and “a solution in search of a problem,” given that surgical interventions on minors are already exceedingly rare and carefully managed by medical professionals.
To close the episode, Professor Leonardi offers reflective questions to help listeners reflect on how they can foster equitable communities.
A new NEPC Talks Education podcast episode, hosted by Bethy Leonardi and Zander Nowell, will be released each month from September through May.
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