Last Saturday, a rally by Gays Against Groomers (GaG), a group that believes any form of gender-affirming healthcare is child abuse or ‘grooming’, was met with counterprotests. GaG, which was founded by a pro-Trump, conservative media specialist with ties to the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement, has held similar events, which it calls the “Stop the War On Children” rally, in Colorado before and across the country.
This morning, activists from Protect Kids Colorado and partnered organizations announced that their two ballot initiatives, both targeting the rights of transgender youths in Colorado, had failed to collect enough signatures to be eligible for the 2024 ballot.
While the deadline to submit signatures is on Monday, Protect Kids Colorado set an internal deadline of Wednesday, July 31st.
Ballot initiatives. Referenda. Plebiscites. Whatever you want to call them, they play a major role in Colorado’s political life. We vote on tax increases, pet projects, citizens’ initiatives, legislatively referred initiatives, and anything else under the sun for which a determined enough cadre of organizers can collect a sufficient amount of signatures to place on our ballots. Colorado is not unique in this regard – 26 states have ballot initiative processes – but we are exceptional: between 1912, when the first initiative appeared on a Colorado ballot, and 2023, Colorado has voted on 266 initiatives, the third most of any state, behind Oregon and California.
The myth has served to advance the broader conservative culture war against LGBTQ inclusion in schools, with proponents generally positioning furries as the next stop on the slippery slope of tolerance for diverse identities.
Questions over a new state election system, abortion, tax rates and anti-trans rules advance.
“Children should feel safe to tell their parents they’re gay!” a masked protester shouted on Wednesday during a screening of Art Club, produced by anti-trans activist Erin Lee and former Colorado lawmaker Kevin Lundberg.
Dobson and Focus on the Family are obsessed with more than kids learning about the birds and the bees; they are obsessed with everyone out there “grooming” kids to think they are transgender.
U.S. District Judge Nina Wang dismissed a civil case Tuesday brought by the parents of two Poudre School District middle schoolers who alleged the district violated their parental rights, guaranteed under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, to direct the upbringing of their children.
The Truth & Liberty Coalition, a right-wing evangelical group, frequently claims to provide “biblical answers, information, and resources to help you stand for truth and affect godly change.” But late last month, it also provided a platform to a Larimer County activist and mother, who’s currently involved in a lawsuit against a Colorado school district over several of its policies relating to the LGBTQ community.
