COLORADO SPRINGS — A group that says it has a “deep-rooted responsibility to protect our kids,” is using an all-volunteer force to circulate petitions for two possible ballot measures that would change the way school districts handle students who claim to identify as the opposite gender and bar biological males from participating in girls’ sports.
The Website for Protect Kids Colorado, a Colorado Springs based organization, says it “seeks to educate, unify, and mobilize dads, moms, grandparents, business owners, community leaders, elected representatives and every member of society to protect the kids from becoming minions of ‘false truths.’”
The organization hopes that statement comes true now more than ever as they circle the state recruiting signature gatherers, hoping to get the two measures in front of voters in November.
Long road to the ballot
The first measure, “Parental Notification of Gender Incongruence” (currently numbered as Initiative #142) would require K-12 staff to notify parents if their student asked to be identified by anything other than their gender assigned at birth or for information on transitioning.
The second measure “Public Athletics Programs for Minors” (currently numbered as Initiative #160) requires all levels of government-sanctioned, sponsored sports from recreational to K-12 to collegiate to ban anyone from participating in girls’ sports who was not biologically a female.
The group has until August 5 to gather 124,238 valid signatures of registered voters to get the measures on the ballot, a big number for an all-volunteer effort. But those behind it have said they can do it with passionate moms, dads, grandmas, and others who support their effort. Former gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez, who was selected to run by the Republican party to temporarily fill former Congressman Ken Buck’s vacated 4th Congressional District, has said petitions will be at all of his campaign events.
Lopez is also listed as the registered agent on a newly formed issue committee with the Secretary of State’s Office. It is not known if there have been any donations to the group that might help cover the cost of paid canvassers to supplement the volunteers, as their first filing isn’t due until June 3.
Additionally, the group’s website lists all the upcoming events where petitions will be. It also has a contact page for anyone who wants to volunteer to carry a petition.
One of the organizers of Protect Kids Colorado is Erin Lee, a Larimer County mom who sued the Poudre School District for not notifying her that her two children were attending an after-school “Genders and Sexualities Alliance” meeting at Wellington Middle School — a meeting the then 6th-graders were told was an after school “art” club. Lee is also listed as one of the 2 proponents of #142
Lee could not be reached for comment.
Former state legislator Kevin Lundberg is also on the organization’s board.
Proponents come out swinging
Rich Guggenheim from the group Gays Against Groomers (GAG), who is listed as one of the proponents of Initiative #160, told KOA talk show host Mandy Connell recently on her show that it’s about more than just athletics, adding women have fought for a long time to have the right to equal access in pay, in careers, in a host of other things.
“It’s about a sense of space and belonging,” Guggenheim said. “This is about opportunities for scholarships. These are about lost opportunities academically, lost opportunities in the career field; this is about space that is safe in the locker room.”
According to its website, GAG is a 501 (c)(4) organization of gays, lesbians and others in the community who “oppose the sexualization, indoctrination, and mutilation of children under the guise of radical LGBTQIA+ activism.”
“Our mission is two-fold,” the website continues. “To end the war on children being carried out in our name, and to reclaim the community we once called our town, which at this point has become unrecognizable.”
Guggenheim said on Connell’s show that two organizations opposing the measures, One Colorado and Out Boulder County are “gaslighting” Colorado residents.
One Colorado, with a mission of advancing “equality and opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Coloradans and their families” is registered with the Secretary of State’s office under two committees: A political action committee that had $2,000 cash on hand as of the last reporting period and a small donor committee that had about $15,000 on hand.
Out Boulder County (registered as Boulder Pride with the IRS) is a 501(c)(3). It is legally allowed to spend a percentage of its donations on opposing the measures. As of its most recent 990 filing (2021), Out Boulder County reported $2.2 million in donations that year, with $1.2 million in expenses.
“Out Boulder County and One Colorado do not speak for the LGBTIQA+ community,” Guggenheim said. “In fact, the only thing that they care about is erasing sex and sex-based rights and undermining the rights of gay and lesbian people with all of this trans/queer ideology that they are trying to throw out there and grooming children.”
Complete Colorado will continue to follow the progress of the petitioners.
