The nationwide campaign against transgender procedures on minors gained new momentum last week, despite the general triumph of pro-transgender politicians. In Colorado, voters approved a ballot measure (Proposition 135) prohibiting transgender surgeries on minors, acting to protect children when their politicians would not. Colorado thus became the 28th state to restrict transgender procedures on minors, and the first state to do so by ballot measure.

Proposition 135 would “prohibit surgeries on minors that alter their biological sex characteristics as a treatment in response to a minor’s perception of sex or gender” and “prohibit the use of state or federal funds or insurance coverage to pay for these surgeries.” The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing said the state’s Medicaid program spent $2.7 million on transgender procedures for minors between 2023 and 2025, although the lion’s share was likely for hormonal treatments, which the ballot measure did not address.

Notably, amid a general landslide in favor of Democrats, the proposition passed in Colorado by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%, or just over 100,000 votes. The Associated Press called the race on Friday.

“Amidst Democrats’ decisive election victories last week, ballot measures reversing their gender-bending social agenda still won in deep-blue states,” noted Quena González, senior director of Government Affairs at Family Research Council. “In Colorado, where the Republican Party has been on the defense for over a decade, liberal voters provided the winning edge for a first-in-the-nation ballot measure protecting children from gender transition procedures.”

The voters’ verdict was thus a reality check on the extremism of the transgender agenda. Pro-transgender activists did not accept the result calmly. “It’s certainly painful to see the outcome and how close it was,” lamented Nadine Bridges, executive director of the LGBT advocacy group One Colorado. “I don’t imagine if people had the right information that they would have made this decision.”

Denial is the first stage of grief. In reality, opponents of Proposition 135 dropped $4,927,982 into defeating the measure, while a grassroots campaign known as Protect Kids Colorado mustered only $271,540 in its favor — a ratio of 18 to one. If the proposition’s opponents had any good arguments, they certainly had every opportunity to let voters know.

This fact suggests that even liberal voters in Colorado did hear the arguments against Proposition 135 — and voted for it anyways. “Ascendant elected Democrats and demoralized Republicans alike would do well to note that the issue of protecting children from gender ideology cuts directly across party lines,” González told The Washington Stand.

In fact, pro-transgender activists are the ones actually promoting false claims. Planned Parenthood Action alleged that “Proposition 135 would allow the government to interfere in personal medical decisions that should remain between families and their trusted providers. The measure creates barriers to care.” Likewise, GLAAD claimed that “Proposition 135 would prohibit health care professionals from practicing medically necessary health care for transgender youth that is supported by every major medical association.”

In reality, there is nothing “medically necessary” about amputating healthy breasts or genitalia. Such irreversible surgeries with long-term side effects are an extreme way to treat mental or emotional distress, and multiple evidence reviews commissioned by Western governments have not found the results satisfactory enough to justify rushing minors into such life-altering surgeries.

Nor is it true that transgender surgeries for minors are supported by “every major medical association.” In February, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) — the organization whose members would be responsible for conducting such surgeries — recommended “that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.” When pressed on their position, the American Medical Association reluctantly agreed that transgender surgeries “should be generally deferred to adulthood.”

Given these position statements, it is entirely inaccurate to characterize Proposition 135 as government interference “in personal medical decisions” when even medical organizations agree that transgender surgeries are inappropriate for minors.

Unfortunately, the transgender lobby holds more sway over Colorado officials than over Colorado voters, which means there is still a chance for the legislature to undo the protections voters implemented. Proposition 135 was a statutory measure, not a constitutional one. This meant that it only needed a simple majority to pass (a threshold it only narrowly cleared), but that the state legislature could amend or repeal it.

“We’re going to have to take a look at these anti-trans measures and what adjustments are necessary and appropriate,” Colorado Governor-elect Phil Weiser responded to the outcome. He added that it is “a natural and I believe appropriate role of the legislature” to consider adjustments to statutory ballot measures.

Meanwhile, however, the fact remains that Colorado voters did implement Proposition 135. And, as Republicans found out in the 2026 midterm, ignoring the voters can be a dangerous prospect.

For now, advocates of Proposition 135 are celebrating a successful effort to protect Colorado children, even against long political and fiscal odds. Protect Kids Colorado Co-Founder Erin Lee celebrated “the thousands of just everyday Coloradans who came together to make this happen.” And she warned legislators that any attempt to undo the measure, as well as a girls’ sports measure (Proposition 134) which also passed, would be “to their detriment.”

“The results of the 2026 election are an early indication that one of the most lasting effects of President Trump’s second term may very well end up being a 180-degree reversal in the cultural tide that until 2024 targeted children with lies and convinced families that ‘gender transition’ is the only answer,” González concluded. “Today, the transgender activists are in retreat as popular opinion turns decidedly against trans ideology.”