Colorado emerges as trans rights battleground
Court cases, ballot initiatives and federal investigations
Supporters of trans rights are fighting a multi-front battle in Colorado as the federal government and anti-trans activists take aim at policies protecting trans kids.
Colorado has some of the most LGBTQ+ friendly policies of any state in the country, which could be one reason that it’s become a target of the anti-trans movement. But LGBTQ+ groups have a strong base of support, and a new coalition called Families Not Politics launched recently in response to two anti-trans ballot measures that Colorado voters will decide in November
One of them would effectively ban trans kids from playing on boys or girls school sports teams. The issue of transgender policies for school sports came up in a federal investigation that recently found Jeffco Schools’ trans protections violated gender equality laws, despite no evidence that trans kids put fellow athletes at a competitive disadvantage.
The other ballot measure would ban gender-affirming surgeries for kids. Major hospitals in Colorado have suspended gender-affirming care for minors in the face of legal harassment and threats from the federal government. The Colorado Supreme Court will soon decide whether the decision to suspend care violated state anti-discrimination laws.
Need to Know
🤝 Colorado cities and counties would be able to team up to tackle houselessness under a proposal being considered by state lawmakers that would let them form multi-jurisdictional agencies to coordinate prevention and reduction efforts, share resources, and (with voter approval) levy taxes. (KUNC)
🧐 A policy limiting the use of Colorado court data for federal immigration enforcement has come under scrutiny by Republicans in Congress. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Colorado’s court administrator asking for information about the policy, claiming it “obstructs federal law.” (Denver Gazette, read the letter)
🧯 Wildfire preparedness will be especially important after Colorado’s bone-dry winter. Experts say people who live in high-risk areas should have an emergency “go bag” ready in case they need to quickly evacuate. Clearing debris and cutting back vegetation can keep fire further away from inhabited structures. (Rocky Mountain PBS)
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Something Good
⌛ I really enjoyed this article from Wired about the Internet Archive, whose Wayback Machine saves snapshots of old webpages that are incredibly helpful for online research. Major publishers like the New York Times are increasingly blocking the organization from archiving their content over concerns about unauthorized use that could hurt their bottom line. The article does a good job of capturing the difficulty of balancing the benefits and drawbacks of this kind of archiving.