Prop. 134 passes, leaving Colorado’s transgender athletes with more questions
Christine Murphy has been playing competitive sports for as long as she can remember.
What started with soccer later turned into a passion for volleyball, but one experience on the pitch made her question whether her transgender identity impacted her athletic one.
“A small part of me thinks that I got cut from the soccer team because I was trans. I was a very good soccer player," Murphy said.
Murphy is now a second-year setter for the University of Colorado Boulder men's club volleyball team. But Proposition 134, which voters passed last Tuesday, will reshape how transgender athletes can compete in Colorado. The proposition passed with a 52.2% vote.
Prop. 134 is one of three measures Protect Kids Colorado placed on the ballot this year. The organization named the motion the “Protect Girls’ Sports Act”, specifically for biological females.
The proposition will affect transgender athletes all the way from the kindergarten to the collegiate level, including any sports organization that receives state funding. Prop. 134 can change state law. However, the proposition will not affect Colorado’s constitution.
Consequently, the Colorado General Assembly retains the authority to amend or repeal the measure through the legislative process. Schools will have to adopt policies that are consistent and cohesive with Prop. 134.
The proposition requires biological males and females to play with the same birth-assigned sex. The only exception for a biological female to play on a male-designated team would be if no equivalent female-designated team was available.
A girl would be defined as a person born with female reproductive organs, and a boy would be defined as a person born with male reproductive organs.
One of the biggest concerns of Prop. 134 is how a person will be classified as a “boy” or “girl”. Protect Kids Colorado has not outlined a specific identification process.
The organization has suggested that one could check a student-athlete’s gender by performing a cheek swab. They do, however, argue that the idea of genital checks for student-athletes is “false and sensationalized” according to their website.
Currently, all K-12 athletes must receive an approved physical from their doctor prior to playing, which includes an official document listing the athlete’s assigned sex.
Those who support Prop. 134 argued that trans-girl athletes in a female-designated sport take away fairness, safety and collegiate opportunities from biological females.
Murphy, however, will not lose her seat on the CU Men’s Volleyball team.
At CU, trans and non-binary athletes can continue playing in the Equal Opportunity Leagues, a league with no gender restrictions. Additionally, athletes in a Co-Rec league can play according to their gender identity, according to CU’s 2025-2026 intramural handbook.
For example, in a Co-Rec volleyball league, three men and three women have to be on the court. A transgender athlete could play according to their gender identity, as a woman or as a man on the court.
CU transgender athletes playing in intramural or club sports may not be in jeopardy of being cut from their sport since the passing of Prop. 134, as the leagues are student-funded, not state-funded.
Murphy argues every athlete has some kind of advantage.
“I can see the perspective of people who are like, ‘oh, my spot was taken because a trans person had an immediate advantage.’ But everyone’s going to have an advantage," Murphy said. “I think fairness is just keeping the playing field level.”
Erin Lee is on the board of directors for Protect Kids Colorado and also helped lead the effort for the proposition.
Lee said on Rich Bennet’s podcast the “Lifecast” that she hadn’t realized how many female athletes were affected by transgender athletes in female-designated sports. She also pointed out that at least 27 other states have already implemented bans against transgender athletes.
“[Prop 134] was born from hearing from so many Colorado parents whose little girls have been put in this position and who recognized there is no recourse,” Lee said. “That they either forfeit their daughters and lose their opportunity, or they’re forced to compete and change in front of biological males.”
One of Protect Kids Colorado’s main opponents, Families, Not Politics, argues that these practices are invasive and do nothing to protect all kids from harm.
“This measure takes decisions away from parents, schools and athletic experts and hands them to the government,” Families, Not Politics said via the organization's website. “It’s so poorly written that any girl could face an invasive gender check if she’s accused of being transgender. And with no appeals process, parents and families are left powerless to stop these invasive checks.”
Additionally, the Colorado High School Athletic Association requires a trans athlete’s school to best determine the athlete’s gender assignment. CHSAA will not appeal a student’s gender assignment nor will retain “records relating to a student-athlete’s transgender status” according to its 2026-2027 constitution and bylaws.
That being said, CHSAA’s eligibility requirements would have to align with Prop. 134’s requirements should the law pass.
For others like Murphy, the need to provide more documentation compared to biological counterparts is enough to ostracize and single out players.
“I would consider [extra documentation] to be such a process and so invasive,” Murphy said. “Not to mention demanding and reductive to [trans athletes] who want to get out there and actually do the thing they like to do.”
Conservative activist Riley Gaines has also been a prominent voice in the advocacy for stricter restrictions concerning trans women in female-designated sports. Gaines, who swam for Kentucky, competed against transwoman LiaThomas, who swam for Penn, at the 2022 NCAA championships
Thomas’ participation as a trans woman became a national flashpoint, and for players like Murphy, it is the notorious example that trans women are compared to.
In 2025, the NCAA restricted transgender athletes in women’s sports following an Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump.
“That stigma contributed to trans athlete isolation because you don’t want to be as scrutinized as Lia Thomas,” Murphy said.
For Murphy, the goal isn’t to encroach on female-designated sports, but rather to be respected and seen as an equal.
“I’ve had a lot of encouragement from people to play women’s sports. I’m not going 100% because I don’t want to take away from the people who have also worked as hard to be good,” Murphy said. “There’s so much hesitation that trans women have to get into these spaces in the first place.”
This is one of the main reasons Murphy feels more comfortable playing on the Men's Club Volleyball team.
The catch, however, is that both CHSAA and the NCAA have only a few co-ed leagues that qualify for varsity status. For CHSAA, the championship-contending co-ed leagues include spirit (cheer) and esports. In the NCAA, co-ed leagues are fencing, skiing and rifle.
Murphy argues that athletic organizations either need to let trans athletes play or prohibit them instead of continuing to separate and classify them.
“Playing with trans athletes should just happen,” Murphy said. “Because if you start providing other options, then the options are never going to be as good as just being able to play.”
The soccer field was where Murphy first questioned whether her gender identity impacted her athletic one. Now, with the passing of Prop. 134, transgender athletes across the state are left asking more questions.
“There’s this fear of intruding on a community that you’re not welcomed or desired to be included in,” Murphy said. “I feel like the proposition would just add to this fear and stigma that trans people carry. It would make it harder to actually integrate into the communities that they want to be in.”
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