Conservatives are turning to American voters to target trans rights

"Petition gatherers began showing up at farmers markets and grocery store parking lots in Colorado last fall, clipboards in hand. They collected signatures for two ballot initiatives, one to bar transgender girls from school sports and another to ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors. They had help. Colorado's Catholic bishops urged parishes to host signature drives. The lead pastor of Flatirons Community Church asked his congregation to sign. They succeeded."

"What looked like a local campaign was something broader. It is part of a coordinated national strategy unfolding in Maine, Washington, Colorado, and Missouri. The goal is to take the fight over transgender rights out of legislatures, where advocates have blocked many bills, and put it directly to voters."

"It is working. At least five anti-trans ballot measures are confirmed or effectively confirmed for the November general election. Two in Colorado. One in Washington state. One in Maine. And in Missouri, a measure would ban gender-affirming care for minors while also rolling back abortion rights approved by voters just two years ago."

""This harkens back to 2004 and the playbook around marriage equality," says Alana Jochum of Advocates for Trans Equality. "Our opposition is turning to an old playbook to scapegoat a small population." That year, same-sex marriage bans appeared on ballots in 11 states. All passed. In the years after, 31 of 34 such measures passed before the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges made them unenforceable."

Anti-trans efforts are increasingly targeting popular votes rather than state legislatures. In Colorado, petition gatherers collected signatures for initiatives to bar transgender girls from school sports and to ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors, with support from Catholic bishops and church leadership. The approach is part of a coordinated national strategy in multiple states, aiming to move debates directly to voters after advocates have blocked many legislative bills. At least five anti-trans ballot measures are confirmed or effectively confirmed for the November general election, including measures in Colorado, Washington, Maine, and Missouri. The Missouri measure would restrict gender-affirming care for minors while also rolling back abortion rights approved by voters two years earlier.

Read at Advocate.com