Welcome back to this week’s extremist rewind. Because we were off last week for Memorial Day, we will be including a few articles from the previous week. Spotlighted this time around, among others, are two Colorado Times Recorder articles, one on a Christian pastor complaining about a law aimed at addressing the practice of “deadnaming” and another on the infighting around the movement to free convicted felon Tina Peters.
Despite widespread support and an unassailable Democratic majority in both Colorado’s state House and Senate, House Bill 1312, which codifies landmark protections for transgender people, was widely believed last month to be in jeopardy, with one prominent LGBTQ group changing its position multiple times. Some of its most consequential provisions were ultimately left on the cutting room floor before it was signed by Gov. Jared Polis, who had himself left room for doubt on his support.
Heidi reviews U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans’ 2025 commencement speech to Patrick Henry College, and then discusses the history and recent scandals of “God’s Harvard.”
Heidi takes a look at the controversy and opposition around HB1312, Colorado’s latest trans rights bill.
Last week, dozens of Colorado school board members and administrators issued an open letter to the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), making what they called “an urgent and resolute demand” that the organization “immediately adopt rules” to ban trans-identifying teens from participating in high school athletics in Colorado. Signed by 80 signatories representing 14 public school districts, ten charter schools, and one BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), the letter references President Trump’s February 5 Executive Order, “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports,” and suggests that CHSAA will be subject to federal investigation if it does not comply with the letter’s demands.
Colorado gets singled out for a lot of onlys: the only state in which every inch of ground is at least 1,000 feet above sea level, the only state to have turned down hosting the Winter Olympics, the only state to have 58 fourteeners. And the only state to require two consecutive elections for meaningful union representation. That’s right, two. Right now, workers in Colorado have the right to organize if they vote in an open and fair election and receive a majority of votes in favor of union representation. But that right only goes so far. They may have won the vote, but after the election, workers are barred from even negotiating for something called union security. Union security is like expense reimbursement for contract negotiations. After that first vote, the workers are essentially allowed to have a volunteer union. They are actually constrained from what they can negotiate for with their own union members until they’ve had a second election. And that election requires 75% of the workers to vote in favor of it. Once the supermajority votes in favor, then the union can discuss fees for union membership — not impose fees, just discuss them. Now, this is (supposedly) better than those states that outlaw union fee collection altogether (so-called “right-to-work” states or “right-to-work-for-less” states, depending on whose messaging you’re using). But workers in the trenches will tell you it essentially does the same thing. “It gives corporations who are bad actors a second bite at the ‘not at my company’ anti-union apple,” said Liza Nielsen, a former Starbucks worker who experienced surveillance, harassment, and retaliation for her union activity. “Requiring a second election to even begin to discuss expense reimbursement for unions makes unionizing that much more of a long shot.”And that strategy is working.According to the Federal Reserve, states that bar union fee collection have union membership rates of around 6%. While states that allow negotiation for union fee collection have union membership rates of twice that, or around 13%.According to The Economic Policy Institute, the phrase “right to work” itself is intended to deceive and confuse: “The misleadingly named policy is designed to make it more difficult for workers to form and sustain unions and negotiate collectively for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”Which may explain why Colorado’s rate of union membership, with the bizarre two-election system, was 7.7% in 2024. Below the national average of 9.9, and far below the 13% average of non-right-to-work states. In his state of the state address, Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) said he opposed efforts to make Colorado a “right-to-work” state. On Facebook, he says he’s pro-union.
Heidi takes a look at the anti-abortion movement in Colorado, with a screening of the film “The 1916 Project” at Colorado Christian University and coverage of this year’s Colorado March for Life.
Aurora’s municipal elections are underway, and while we have previously looked at who’s running for the at-large city council seats, there are three other wards up for election in November.
Welcome back to CTR’s weekly roundup of articles pertaining to political extremism in Colorado. Aside from protests over the weekend in opposition to the Trump administration’s actions, which you can read our coverage of here, we have multiple stories pertaining to right-wing activism and overreach by the federal government. First up, we have a piece by James O’Rourke on the various far-right donors to a Colorado conservative training program called the Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPR). LPR’s investors range from longstanding conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation to extreme Libertarian city-state advocacy groups. Logan Davis has a column examining the link between modern right-wing anti-public education activism and the now 60-year-old John Birch Society. We are also highlighting two pieces by the Colorado Newsline’s Lindsey Toomer, who wrote about Trump’s Energy Secretary dismissing the role of climate change in Colorado wildfires and the now 10 international students at Colorado universities who have had their visas revoked.
Heidi reflects on recent reporting trips to cover protests in Grand Junction and Colorado Springs, and discusses connections between white nationalists Jared Taylor and Steve Bannon and various members of the Colorado Republican Party.
