Timeline of Colorado’s Trans Athlete Policy Changes

Colorado’s policy landscape regarding transgender student-athletes has transitioned from a highly inclusive statewide framework to a fractured system shaped by local district pushback, high-profile litigation, and an upcoming statewide vote.

2019–2022: Establishing Statewide Inclusion

  • 2019: The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) establishes a formal Transgender Policy Procedure. It affirms the right of transgender student-athletes to participate in interscholastic activities aligned with their gender identity, mandating confidential, school-level evaluations rather than biological restrictions.
  • March 2020: Conservative lawmakers attempt to override CHSAA’s inclusive framework by introducing House Bill 20-1273 (the “Equality and Fairness in Youth Sports Act”). The bill seeks to prohibit students assigned male at birth from participating on girls’ teams in grades 6-12. It fails to pass the Democratic-controlled legislature.

2023–2024: Legislative Defeats and Grassroots Shifting

  • January–February 2023: Republican lawmakers introduce House Bill 23-1098 (“Women’s Rights in Athletics”), which aims to limit athletic teams to biological sex at birth and establish civil remedies for noncompliance. The House Committee on State, Civic, Military, and Veterans Affairs postpones the bill indefinitely on February 13, 2023.
  • Early 2024: Conservative activist groups, led by Protect Kids Colorado, attempt to advance multiple anti-LGBTQ+ and restrictions-based citizen initiatives. The Colorado Title Board rejects several early versions due to procedural and single-subject formatting violations.
  • April 2024: School Board members and administrators issued an open letter to the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) The Man Behind Colorado Schools’ Efforts to Ban Trans Athletes

May 2025: District Rebellion and Federal Lawsuits

  • May 8, 2025: El Paso County School District 49 passes a controversial policy, “Preserving Fairness and Safety in Sports,” banning transgender middle and high school students from girls’ sports teams. District 49 passes policy limiting sports teams to biological sex
  • May 9, 2025: District 49 files a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against CHSAA, the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. The district argues that state-level inclusion rules force them to choose between violating state non-discrimination laws or violating federal Title IX guidelines. Seven other conservative-leaning districts and charter networks quickly sign on as co-plaintiffs.

July–November 2025: The Grassroots Ballot Push

  • July 25, 2025: Activists Erin Lee and Michele Austin officially file a state citizen initiative targeting trans youth in sports.
  • August 25, 2025: The state clears the initiative—designated as Initiative 109—for signature gathering.
  • November 2025: Following a federal executive order threatening funding cuts for schools with inclusive gender policies, additional major school systems—including the Douglas County School Board—begin drafting localized bans on transgender athletes.

December 2025: CHSAA Settles and Decentralizes Enforcement

  • December 4–5, 2025: CHSAA reaches a finalized settlement agreement with the eight plaintiff school districts. In exchange for a collective $60,000 payment from the districts, CHSAA agrees not to sanction or penalize any school that separates athletic teams based strictly on biological sex.
  • The Aftermath: This effectively legalizes a patchwork system in Colorado. While state civil rights protections remain intact, CHSAA drops its enforcement power, allowing individual conservative districts to bar transgender girls from female sports categories. The lawsuit against the Attorney General and Civil Rights Division continues independently.

March 2026: Initiative 109 Qualifies for the Ballot

  • February 20, 2026: Protect Kids Colorado submits 164,922 signatures to the state.
  • March 16–17, 2026: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announces that a random sample has validated the signatures, officially qualifying Initiative 109 for the statewide ballot.
  • March 28, 2026: LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, led by One Colorado, launch the coalition campaign “Families not Politics” to mount a multimillion-dollar voter education and counter-campaign against the measure.

Upcoming – November 3, 2026: The Voters Decide

  • The Upcoming Vote: Coloradans will cast their votes on Initiative 109. If a simple majority votes “Yes,” it will override CHSAA’s previous inclusive bylaws entirely, establishing a strict statutory requirement that all public K-12 and collegiate athletic teams in Colorado be divided strictly by biological sex assigned at birth.

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