Colorado Voters Approve Sex-Based Youth Sports Rule, Ban on Gender Surgeries for Minors – The Epoch Times

A lone voter casts his ballot during the presidential primary – The Epoch Times

Colorado voters on Nov. 3 passed measures that ban surgery for gender dysphoria and require that students only participate in school sports corresponding to their sex.

Proposition 134 amended Colorado statutes to require all sports programs at educational institutions—elementary through collegiate—to be designated as “male-only or female-only based on biological sex, unless the team or sport is designated as open to participation by individuals of any sex or gender.”

It also requires schools to implement policies that ensure the students are assigned to the teams consistent with their sex, and prohibits investigations and penalties for schools or teams that offer female-only sports programs.

Another measure that was adopted, Proposition 135, enacts a full ban on surgery for minors for the purpose of “altering the minor’s biological sex characteristics.” It also bans private health insurance coverage and Medicaid reimbursements for these types of procedures in the state.

The proposition stated that children “lack the maturity to make permanent, life-altering medical decisions.”

“Medical treatments or interventions that attempt to surgically alter a minor child’s biological sex often result in serious, irreversible consequences, including sterility,” it stated.

The measure noted that the state already prohibits children from making certain life-altering decisions available to adults, such as using controlled substances, and argued the same safeguards should extend to irreversible gender-related medical procedures.

The propositions will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

Voters passed the measures after years of unsuccessful attempts to enact similar restrictions through Colorado’s Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Just one year earlier, the Legislature passed a bill to ensure that state-regulated healthcare insurance plans included coverage for “gender-affirming health care.”

1.1Measures in Other States

Voters in Washington state on Nov. 3 also approved a ban on male students, including those identifying as transgender, from participating in sports designated for female athletes.

Voters in Arizona and Missouri also decided on issues regarding gender and sex on their ballots.

Arizona voters approved Proposition 318, which requires students to use restrooms, locker rooms, and other private spaces integral to athletics that match their sex.

As in Colorado and Washington, schools and athletic associations are also required to designate teams as male, female, or co-ed, and exclude males from participating in female-designated sports.

In Missouri, however, an amendment that included a provision to prohibit surgeries for gender dysphoria or cross-sex hormone treatments for minors failed.

Prior to the 2026 election, several dozen states had already implemented some policies restricting male athletes from participating in female school sports, including Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, and Arkansas.

Almost as many had laws prohibiting gender-transition surgeries for minors, with Arkansas being the first to pass such legislation in 2021.

Stacy Robinson contributed to this report.