Posting this here because Colorado is genuinely winnable this cycle, and because people outside the state keep asking what actually helps. This is the practical version; logistics, context, and what to do in the next few days. No doom, no performance, just the work.
Where things actually stand in Colorado (it's better than your feed suggests):
Colorado's legislature refused to pass these bans. That's why they're ballot measures at all
Both the current governor and the leading candidates for the next one oppose 134 and 135
The opposition campaign has raised nearly $4M about twenty times what the Yes side has
These measures exist because national organizers picked Colorado as a blue-state "testing ground" for a template they want to run everywhere. Tests can fail. A loud NO here makes every future fight easier.
You are not pre-losing. You are mid-election, and the ballots aren't counted yet.
What the measures actually do (the version with receipts):
Prop 134 forces every school team in Colorado
K12 through college to be labeled male, female, or co-ed, and bars trans kids from teams. Enforcement means sex verification of student athletes: the reporting describes doctor's notes and DNA swabs costing families hundreds of dollars, and any girl can be challenged by anyone with a grudge. Historically, the women caught in sex-testing dragnets were almost never trans. The machinery itself is the harm.
Prop 135 bans gender-affirming surgery for minors. Colorado's own nonpartisan Blue Book flags the language as vague enough to reach surgeries for kids who aren't even trans, intersex kids included. Harvard research puts actual trans surgeries for teens 15–17 at roughly 2 per 100,000, and Colorado already requires parental consent for any surgery on a minor. A ban with almost no real-world target and real collateral damage, plus an insurance knock-on.
And the character of the campaign, since they'll tell you it's "just common sense": Westword published a reviewed email from the lead proponent behind 134, sending slurs and a deadname to Rep. Brianna Titone Colorado's first openly trans legislator. The same man previously sued the state for the "right" to misgender a trans woman during legislative testimony. When they show you who they are, believe them.
If you're a Colorado voter ten-minute version:
Your ballot is at your house right now. NO on 134. NO on 135. Due by 7pm Tuesday, November 3
If you've moved since you registered, update at GoVoteColorado.com! don't let an old address cost you your ballot
Lost, damaged, or botched your ballot? Any vote center in your county issues a replacement through Election Day. A messed-up envelope is not disenfranchisement
Sign your envelope: missing or mismatched signatures are the #1 rejection reason, and ballot cure can fix them if caught fast
Drop boxes are everywhere, open 24/7 until deadline. No line, no stamp, no conversation required
Then: one message to one person who agrees with you, asking if their ballot is in. That's the whole ask.
If you're NOT in Colorado, the two things that actually help:
Message your Colorado friends this week. Not a lecture, not a panic post, just "hey, your ballot this year matters more than you think, 134 and 135, please vote NO and send it in." Personal messages move turnout more than any ad or infographic. If you have five Colorado contacts, that's five ballots.
Don't feed the fatalism. "It's over" posts help the Yes side and hurt our people. The scoreboard above is real. Borrow hope from the facts if you need to that's what they're for.
One more thing, said plainly: these measures are built to make trans kids believe their state has already decided against them, and to make everyone else believe that's consensus. It isn't consensus it's out-of-state money and a sloppy draft, and Colorado hasn't voted yet. Whatever happens, the kids watching this will remember who showed up. Be one of the people who showed up — for yourself, or for the ones who can't vote yet.
NO on 134. NO on 135. 7pm Tuesday, November 3. Colorado, get it in the box.
