In November, the state of Colorado—one of the bluest in the country—will vote on three ballot initiatives aiming to protect women’s sports and spaces and children from irreversible medical interventions. The success of these initiatives thus far is largely due to an unlikely coalition made up of Catholics, political volunteers, and even some disaffected liberals.
The group, Protect Kids Colorado, is led by activist Erin Lee, and they spent the early part of the year with more than 3,300 volunteers gathering signatures across all 64 counties in Colorado. Together, these volunteers gathered 170,000 signatures for Initiative #109, 165,000 for Initiative #110, and 170,000 for Initiative #108—more than clearing the threshold for getting each on the ballot. The initiatives, respectively, increase the penalty for trafficking a minor to up to life in prison without parole, ban biological males from competing in female sports categories in state schools, and prohibit surgery on minors meant to alter sex-specific physical characteristics, in addition to banning the use of state funds for these procedures.
For Lee, who describes herself as a “former Democrat,” the fight to get these initiatives before the voters in Colorado was a personal one. Her own daughter fell victim to the transgender craze at the age of 12 when she was secretly transitioned at school.
“We sued all the way to SCOTUS. We were the first case to reach the Supreme Court. It wasn’t taken, but [Supreme Court Justice Samuel] Alito called it ‘troubling and tragic,’” Lee said in an interview with IW Features. “That woke me up five years ago, and when we saved her and went public four years ago, I kind of became a beacon for so many families who are going through this.”
The Protect Kids Colorado strategy was simple: meet people in their communities and give them a chance to reject the radical policy positions that have been forced on them by Democrats running their state. Volunteers canvassed churches, county fairs, and grocery stores. Some LGBT groups, feminists, and lifelong Democrats who are similarly concerned about the effects of radical gender ideology gladly offered their signatures to the initiatives, Lee said.
But not everyone whom the volunteers encountered was so friendly. Bernadette Lake from Durango, Colorado, the fifth top signature gatherer, told IW Features she had regular encounters with the police as some passers-by became violent and antagonistic over the initiatives.
“I dealt with a lot of haters, but the worst one was a guy who came up, and he ended up spitting at me. Thankfully, it didn’t touch my skin, but because it didn’t touch my skin, they couldn’t charge him with assault,” Lake said.
Lake recounted another instance in which a woman began defacing the papers where she was gathering signatures while she was canvassing at a grocery store.
“This girl came out of nowhere and just immediately walked right up to the table, grabbed a pen, and defaced our petition, which is against the law. You can’t do that—it’s like walking up to somebody, grabbing their ballot, and ripping it in front of them. This is a protected process.
“So I didn’t engage with her. I didn’t talk to her,” Lake continued. “I grabbed her hand so she couldn’t deface all of them and … well, the police came, and she takes off.”
Lake said the police ended up being able to apprehend the woman and issue a citation. The case is still making its way through court, Lake added.
In another instance, Lake said an opponent brought a cardboard sign that said “pedophile sympathizers and genital inspectors” and stood directly in front of her table, blocking others from accessing her petitions and screaming at passers-by.
And yet despite all of this, Protect Kids Colorado’s ballot initiatives received an outpouring of support from people across the state. Lake said she wasn’t surprised by the success of these initiatives even though the state is deep blue, because she saw firsthand how many former Democrats would approach her as she volunteered to say that they no longer recognized their political party, and that they were happy to sign on to the petition.
“I was at the grocery store, and one of the people who came up to me put her hands dramatically on the table, and I’m thinking, ‘Here we go,’ and she goes, ‘I’m a Democrat. I am as Democrat and blue as they come. I have never not voted. But these are not our issues. I’m signing every single one of these. The Democrats have this wrong,’” Lake recalled.
Protect Kids Colorado was strategic in their wording of the initiatives in order to gain the support they needed to get them on the November ballot. In a perfect world, Lee says she would have “tackled the chemical castration and even the social transition piece” in Initiative 110. But research and focus groups showed her that focusing on surgeries alone would gain them more bipartisan support.
Likewise, Lee secured the support of Catholics in the state by emphasizing to influential priests and parishes that the issues were moral, not political.
“These aren’t political to us. These are moral, biblical issues. The ballot initiative is not a candidate. You’re not endorsing someone. You’re really not getting political. You’re just giving your people a way to stand up on an issue,” Lee explained.
Lee said she is “very confident” the initiatives will succeed in Colorado this November.
“There will be long-lasting effects. This is going to be the first of many legislative changes if we succeed – when we succeed at the ballot,” she said. “I don’t want to say ‘if.’ We will succeed.”
