DENVER – A trio of citizen-initiated ballot measures focused on sex crimes against children and transgender issues involving minors have been okayed by the Colorado Title Board and approved for signature gathering, with proponents are aiming to put the measures in front of voters on the 2026 ballot.
Initiatives 108 (known as the Children Are Not For Sale Act), 109 (known as the Protect Women and Girls Sports Act), and 110 (known as the Protect Children From Irreversible Sex Change Surgery Act) would, respectively, increase the penalty for trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude to life in prison without parole, create distinct categories for school athletics in Colorado, stipulating that participants must participate in the category based on their sex assigned at birth, and prohibit any medical professional from performing a sex change surgery on a minor, with a few exceptions.
All three would appear on the ballot in the November 2026 statewide election and take effect January 1, 2027. the measures are all statutory changes, meaning they can be amended or undone by the Colorado Legislature, as with any other statute.
The three initiatives were all brought by Wellington resident Erin Lee, who has become well-known across the state for her activism around parental rights after an employee in the Poudre School District convinced her daughter that she was actually a transgender male. She is the executive director of Protect Kids Colorado.
Lee’s co-proponent on the initiatives is political strategist Michele Austin, of Englewood.
Second time’s a charm
Two of the three measures were rejected by the title board during the last election cycle after being deemed too vague and in violation of the state’s single subject rule.
Lee said the game changer this year was simply having former Secretary of State Scott Gessler represent them in front of the title board.
“Last year, they said it didn’t meet single subject because the term ‘parent’ was too vague,” Lee said. “We represented ourselves, so we didn’t know how to respond. This year, Scott wasn’t letting them get away with that. Having him up there made all the difference.”
Much work still to be done
Proponents have 180 days as of Aug 6 to gather approximately 125,000 valid signatures of Colorado voters per initiative to get them on the ballot, but they say they are shooting for more than 200,000 and want to wrap it up by January 1.
Lee said there is a lot of differences this time around, including a partnership with the Protect our Children Issue Committee, which will help raise the funding needed to not only get it on the ballot but to also run a campaign around the initiatives.
Although Lee reports an impressive 1,000 volunteers with petitions, spread across 60 counties in Colorado, she knows at some point she will need to pay petition circulators to get the group across the finish line. Having heavy hitters like former Senator Kevin Lundberg, the Catholic church — which has put out the directive to have “mandatory signing weekends” at churches in September, October and November — and many others behind the effort gives it the boost it needs to get before the voters this time, she said.
“We are hoping to triple that,” she said, adding anyone wishing to help can find information on the organization’s website protectkidscolorado.org. “We have been working for a year to build this infrastructure of leadership and logistically getting everything together when we pull the trigger,” she said. “We want this to be a cultural movement. And it starts with having conversations with these people, just making sure people understand, ‘yes this is happening in Colorado.’”
According to Lee, one of the areas they worked hard at finding middle ground on was the transgender surgery bill, which will not prohibit the use of hormone blockers, only surgeries.
