Activist: Colorado Catholics Unlikely to Have Supported Bishops’ Anti-Trans Signature Campaign

LGBTQ+ advocates speculate that an anti-trans campaign encouraged by Colorado Catholic bishops may have backfired and failed to find support amongst area parishioners. 

Archbishop Samuel Aquila

In the fall of 2025 Denver’s Archbishop Samuel Aquila  and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodrigueza, Colorado Springs’ Bishop James Golka, and Pueblo’s Bishop Stephen Berg issued a letter encouraging parishes to designate three weekends as ‘signature collection weekends’ to gather signatures in support of placing anti-trans initiatives on 2026r’s election ballot. According to Colorado Times Reporter, these initiatives include Initiative #109, which would restrict sports participation based on sex assigned at birth, and Initiative #110, which would ban gender-affirming surgeries for individuals under 18. 

No report of the total number of signatures collected was made public, though some parishes publicly reported their totals.

The letter also encouraged parishioners to volunteer with the organization that is running the campaign for the initiatives, Protect Kids Colorado, which has a history of promotining anti-LGBTQ+ proposals and rhetoric. 

But Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization which advocates for the separation of church and state, criticized the bishops’ letter and noted that there are numerous LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies in Colorado who do not align with the bishops’ stance. She stated:

“I mean, they [the church] are a top-down organization. They amass their power at the top and they dictate orders to their subjects. ,” Gaylor said, “And so I guess it’s not surprising, but it certainly shows their commitment to try to deprive transgender youth and families of rights, and control of their own decision making. I mean, it’s reprehensible. And I wonder if it will backfire because there are a lot of liberals in the Catholic Church, even among some of the priesthood, who may bridle at something like this.”

The bishops’ letter framed their support of these initiatives in terms of protecting families and children and preserving religious freedom, saying: “These initiatives must be enacted to protect Colorado families and children, especially as extreme laws violating parental rights continue to be advanced in our state.” 

According to the letter, a recent Colorado law protecting the rights of transgender individuals “codifies discrimination against any faith-based or private institution or individual with a different belief about human sexuality and forces them to conform to government-mandated beliefs about “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.” 

However, LGBTQ+ advocates and lawyers in Colorado are skeptical not only of the letter’s claims, but also of the likelihood that they found support amongst area parishes. 

Mari Newman, a civil rights and employment law attorney, has disputed the bishops’ claim that Colorado’s legal protection of transgender people infringes on the church’s religious liberty, stating: 

“This is nothing more than divisive fear mongering, as Colorado law expressly excludes religious institutions from coverage.Religious freedom is not a legitimate justification for discrimination against LGBTQIA+ Coloradans who are simply seeking to live their lives in peace.”

The bishops specifically took issue with the Kelly Loving Act, a bill which contained new protections for transgender people and modified the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) to include deadnaming and misgendering. However, the law does not apply to churches. 

Additionally, although the bishops of the Colorado Archdiocese have a history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, that position is not necessarily reflected in the broader Colorado Catholic community. 

Trans people deserve parishes and church leaders who work to preserve their dignity and fullness of life, not those who campaign to deny their rights and legal protections. Despite the actions of these bishops, trans Catholics in Colorado should find parishes who choose to support them rather than supporting these initiatives. 

—Phoebe Carstens, New Ways Ministry, January 7, 2026