Colorado voters approve measure restricting transgender athletes' participation in school sports

Meg Wingerter, The Denver Post on Nov 5, 2026

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DENVER — Two days after polls closed, a measure restricting which teams transgender athletes may play on has been approved by Colorado voters, while a second measure that would ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors looks likely to pass as well.

The Associated Press called the race in favor of Proposition 134 at 4:12 p.m. Thursday, with an estimated 90% of ballots counted. At that time, nearly 53% of Colorado voters were in favor of requiring transgender athletes in high school and college to play on teams matching their birth sex, rather than their gender identities.

Proposition 135, which would prohibit surgeries to alter “biological sex characteristics” for people under 18, was ahead with 52% of the counted votes as of 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The AP has not yet called that race.

Protect Kids Colorado, the main group campaigning for the two measures, declared victory on both Wednesday night.

“Colorado is now the first blue state — and the first state to enact this protection by a direct vote of the people — to follow the lead of 27 other states and establish clear, single-sex guidelines for female athletics,” Jen Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics and Proposition 134 issue chair with Protect Kids Colorado, said in a news release. “Girls deserve fair competition, equal opportunity and categories that recognize biological sex. Colorado voters have made their voices heard.”

Families Not Politics, the main opposition group, conceded defeat on the two measures, but said it would “exhaust every option available” to defend transgender children’s rights.

“Colorado’s kids will have to live with the consequences of this election — they will face new barriers to medically necessary healthcare and new, expensive barriers and exclusion from full participation in school. Their families will now have to navigate laws created by a political campaign that turned their children into a statewide controversy,” the group said in a news release.

Both ballot questions are statutory — not constitutional amendments — meaning the legislature will have to pass bills to enact them.

Typically, lawmakers don’t outright reject measures voters have passed, but Gov.-elect Phil Weiser noted on Wednesday that they can consider what will be feasible to administer. Weiser opposed both Propositions 134 and 135.

No one knows how many transgender athletes currently participate in Colorado high school sports. Currently, no hospitals in the state provide gender-affirming surgeries to minors.

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