To most people, the word ‘plague’ conjures images of widespread infectious disease and death. It’s also the word that former GOP lawmaker Kevin Lundberg used to describe the transgender rights movement in Colorado, as his organization Protect Kids Colorado seeks enough petition signatures to put anti-trans initiatives on the 2026 ballot.
"If you're a Christian, to not ... engage in this spiritual battle to protect kids, to me, is the equivalent of mutiny and deserting your post," Jim Burgen said in a sermon promoting anti-LGBTQ ballot initiatives.
Of the 87 ballot initiatives listed on the website for the Colorado Title Board, which manages the state's ballot initiative process, Advance Colorado president Michael Fields is listed as a proponent for 61 of them.
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.
Protect Kids Colorado, an organization formed last year to promote ballot initiatives that would negatively impact the rights of Colorado’s transgender community, is gearing up once again to submit initiatives to the Title Board in an effort to get on the 2026 ballot.
Four Colorado bishops representing the Catholic Church have taken a stance on multiple upcoming ballot initiatives: vocally opposing measures to protect reproductive rights and gay marriage, and supporting potential measures that would negatively impact the rights of transgender youths.
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.
