Stepping up its involvement in anti-trans political campaigns, Colorado’s Catholic Bishops have directed parishioners to gather signatures at church to place anti-trans initiatives on next year’s election ballot.
The campaign for the initiatives is being run by Protect Kids Colorado, a conservative organization which last year unsuccessfully tried to get several anti-trans initiatives on the 2024 ballot. The group is effectively a coalition of political figures and groups, many of which have a history of pushing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies.
An August 21 letter, signed by Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila and three bishops from Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, announced three signature collection weekends “for all Catholic parishes in our state.” The letter also encouraged readers to sign up to volunteer with Protect Kids Colorado.
“These initiatives must be enacted to protect Colorado families and children, especially as extreme laws violating parental rights continue to be advanced in our state,” the letter reads, adding that a recent Colorado law protecting transgender people “codifies discrimination against any faith-based or private institution or individual with a different belief about human sexuality and forces them to conform to government-mandated beliefs about “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”
“May we, as a community of faith, take this important stand for the dignity of the human person, the protection of children and the religious liberty of all,” states the letter.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese did not reply to an email asking whether it was mandatory for parishes to collect signatures.
Of the three measures, two are explicitly anti-trans measures, and one initiative, #108, would increase punishment for child sex trafficking to a mandatory lifetime prison sentence.
Initiative #109 would restrict participation in school sports based on sex assigned at birth. This would effectively ban trans students from playing sports at all. (Protect Kids Colorado attempted to run a similar measure last year, also with the support of the Archdiocese.)
Despite the fact that trans athletes make up a negligible fraction of all student athletes nationwide, anti-trans conservatives — as well as some Democrats — across the country have supported similar bans in state legislatures. One such bill was floated in the U.S. Congress earlier this year. Opponents have raised concerns that such a ban could only be enforced through invasive physical examinations of children who play sports.
Initiative #110 would ban gender-affirming surgeries for those under 18 years old. Anti-trans conservatives have historically made distorted claims of prepubescent children receiving these surgeries, which does not happen. The only such procedure not reserved for adults is mastectomy, or top surgery, which can in some cases be performed starting at age 16.
Supporters of ballot initiatives in Colorado have six months to collect 124,238 signatures from voters in the state. Protect Kids Colorado’s all-volunteer signature gathering effort launched officially in September.
The letter stated that signature gathering would be carried out by parishes on weekends coinciding with three Catholic celebrations: the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept. 13-14), the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (Oct. 4-5), and this upcoming weekend, which encompasses All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (Nov. 1-2).
Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization which advocates for the separation of church and state, speculated that these occasions were likely chosen because there would be more parishioners present to sign petitions.
“It sounds like they’re trying to optimize the signature collecting, and they thought it through,” Gaylor said.
This marks a departure from Colorado Catholic leaders’ previous political advocacy for abortion and anti-trans initiatives. While in the past, Aquila and his fellow bishops have urged support for conservative ballot initiatives such as abortion restrictions and prior anti-trans measures, that support was limited to urging voters to sign petitions and advising supportive pastors to allow signature gathering in their parishes.
“I wonder if it will backfire?”
“I mean, they are a top-down organization. They amass their power at the top and they dictate orders to their subjects,” said Gaylor. “And so I guess it’s not surprising, but it certainly shows their commitment to try to deprive transgender youth and families of rights, and control of their own decision making. I mean, it’s reprehensible. And I wonder if it will backfire because there are a lot of liberals in the Catholic Church, even among some of the priesthood, who may bridle at something like this.”
Anti-trans activism in Colorado was spurred on, following this year’s legislative session, by a manufactured outrage campaign against House Bill 1312. Titled “The Kelly Loving Act,” the bill contained a package of new rights and protections for trans people in Colorado.
This was mentioned in the letter, which included a paragraph claiming the bill “codifies discrimination against any faith-based or private institution or individual with a different belief about human sexuality and forces them to conform to government-mandated beliefs about ‘sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression’ and avoid ‘misgendering’ or ‘deadnaming’ … intentionally under threat of criminal and financial penalties.” [CTR emphasis.]
In fact, the letter’s claims about The Kelly Loving Act appear to be misleading. The bishops take issue with one specific section, which modified the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) to include deadnaming and misgendering. CADA applies to discrimination within employment, public accommodations, and housing. The law does not apply to churches.
“This is nothing more than divisive fear mongering, as Colorado law expressly excludes religious institutions from coverage,” said Mari Newman, a civil rights and employment law attorney at Newman | McNulty, LLC. “Religious freedom is not a legitimate justification for discrimination against LGBTQIA+ Coloradoans who are simply seeking to live their lives in peace.”
The bishops’ letter contains an endnote clarifying the actual text of CADA, but claims that “the scope of this religious exemption is uncertain.”
Aquila has had a long career as a conservative hardliner and has staunchly opposed socially liberal policies both in his state and the international Catholic Church. In 2022, Aquila joined a letter from conservative Catholic officials rebuking a group of German priests attempting to liberalize church practices, including through acceptance for gay marriage.
The Denver Archbishop’s local opposition to LGBTQ rights has included calling for fellow Catholics to launch conversion therapy programs in their churches. In a 2022 op-ed, he claimed that it is “an act of charity” for the Catholic Church to promote homophobic and transphobic rhetoric.
Aquila offered his resignation to Pope Leo XIV on his 75th birthday last month, in accordance with official Catholic doctrine. Some speculate that Leo, whose appointments so far have leaned more progressive, would appoint a liberal successor to Aquila, but experts say there’s no way to tell for sure.
Former Republican state legislator and religious-right activist Kevin Lundberg, a member of Protect Kids Colorado, praised the bishops for their letter of support, before calling for evangelical churches to follow suit.
“The bishops here in Colorado have all, they wrote a very strong letter of support for what we’re doing, and literally instructed every parish to collect signatures, and you know, if you attend a Catholic church, make sure they’re doing it there,” Lundberg said in an interview on KLZ Radio’s Kim Monson Show on Sept. 30. “But if you attend an evangelical church or any church, take the initiative to see how you can get things done there, because I believe that there is an important component for the church to engage with the culture.”
Earlier this month, the Colorado Title Board approved another initiative, #149 “Right to Life from Conception,” which would ban abortion in Colorado by conferring legal rights to a fetus from the moment of conception. The Archdiocese has not publicly announced whether it will support this initiative at this time.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Archdiocese did not respond to an emailed request for comment. This story will be updated with any response received.
