‘The Great Colorado Ballot-O-Rama’: Part II
Purplish
This episode continues the live game show format of Purplish Live, where reporters compete to accurately explain complex midterm ballot measures. Contestants Kyle McKinnon,
Key takeaways
- Kyle McKinnon explains three measures backed by Protect Kids Colorado targeting transgender student sports participation, gender-affirming surgeries for minors, and increased penalties for human trafficking.
- Jennifer Brown details Initiative 85 on fentanyl penalties, noting it would make possession an automatic felony and strip overdose immunity, while also covering Initiative 95 requiring law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
Main topics
- Transgender sports and healthcare measures
- Fentanyl penalties and overdose immunity
Notable quotes
"This is a hot chair, everyone."
Conclusion
Listeners gain a clear breakdown of complex, high-stakes ballot measure
Transcript preview
Speaker 6 (0:00) Glad you came back for part two of Purplish Live, the great Colorado balladorama. In late August, we hosted a live event, a game show about all the measures on your ballot this year. The goal is to help you better understand many, and I do mean many, thorny questions before you. If you haven't listened to the first part, a.k.a. last week's episode, I strongly recommend you hit pause right now and take a listen to that first. If you're all caught up, there's still lots more on the ballot. To Speaker 8 (0:33) that note, I've got a quick disclaimer. Order of business, if you will. You'll hear us talk about ballot initiatives with different numbers attached to them, like Initiative 85. Well, once an initiative officially gets on the ballot, they become propositions and amendments. And they get new numbers. I know, super clear. But the core issues we'll discuss with all these measures remain the same. Speaker 6 (0:54) So without further ado, Purplish Live. Speaker 3 (1:00) At the Buell Public Media Center in Denver, I'm Ryan Warner from CPR News. And Speaker 4 (1:06) I'm Gabriella Resto-Montero from Rocky Mountain PBS. We've had a great first half, Speaker 6 (1:12) yeah? Speaker 4 (1:14) Do you feel smarter? Speaker 4 (1:17) Or do we still have some work to do? Speaker 3 (1:21) I feel smarter just standing next to you. Speaker 4 (1:24) Aw, thanks, Ryan. Speaker 4 (1:27) With us again to put these ballot experts to the test are our celebrity judges. Purplish host Benta Brooklyn from Colorado Public Radio and Jesse Paul from the Colorado Sun. Speaker 3 (1:44) Don't forget, not that you could, that the prize is an all-expense-paid trip to Colorado's capital. Speaker 2 (1:50) There's a lot at stake. Speaker 3 (1:52) Please don't pick me. Speaker 4 (1:54) I don't know. That song was pretty great. Speaker 3 (1:56) Jesse doesn't want to spend a minute more under the dome. Abenta, Jesse, how do you feel about the competition so far? Speaker 6 (2:04) I mean, Jesse was this dark horse with this, you know, breakout Speaker 8 (2:07) tire. Speaker 6 (2:08) You're going to have Speaker 3 (2:08) to keep up with that. Speaker 8 (2:09) But, you know, Speaker 6 (2:10) Dan... Speaker 4 (2:11) He Speaker 6 (2:11) had the great outfit. Speaker 8 (2:13) What Speaker 6 (2:13) about John? Breaking down complex taxes? Yes. He had Speaker 8 (2:17) the hardest. He had Speaker 6 (2:18) the hardest. You know, yes. John's was very hard. They all did a great job. Maybe we'll spin Speaker 3 (2:23) and John can go again. John can go again. Wow. Okay. Speaker 4 (2:27) What do we think of Dan's? How much taxes do you want to hear about? Speaker 2 (2:31) What do we think of Dan's pedicure? Oh, so good. Perfect. Okay, very good. Speaker 3 (2:36) Okay, Jesse, who's the next contestant on Purplish Live? I don't know. Let's spin that. Speaker 3 (2:53) It'll finish spinning by election day. Speaker 8 (3:13) Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, but more recently, downtown Denver, is Kyle McKinnon, the KUNC Capital Editor. Just Speaker 7 (3:23) remember, both of you were friends, okay? Go easy on me. We weren't friends. Speaker 8 (3:28) All right. Well, Kyle, you are actually really in the hot seat with these initiatives. You're here to talk about the three measures that some on Colorado's right describe as a way to, quote, protect Colorado's children. Speaker 6 (3:40) But those who oppose these measures say they are actually anti-trans. Kyle, why don't you walk us through them one at a time? And we'll start with the male and female participation in school sports. What would this do? Speaker 7 (3:55) So basically that measure, it would block schools from letting transgender students play on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. So schools and athletic associations would have to designate each team as male, female, or co-ed. And that's essentially based on what the measure calls biological sex. So transgender girls could not play on girls' teams. Transgender boys... could play on boys teams, but that's only if there wasn't a girls team available for that sport. So this would apply to public and private schools from K-12 all the way up to higher education, covering school competitions and intramural sports. And these schools would each have to adopt their own policies to carry it out. Speaker 6 (4:43) And I do want to note that Colorado's anti-discrimination rules right now That's interpreted by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to mean that schools currently must let students join teams matching their gender identity. Speaker 8 (4:57) All right, Kyle, let's move on to the second of these three measures, the one that limits what kind of surgeries minors can have. So what procedures are we talking about here? Speaker 7 (5:06) Yeah, so at its core, this measure would make it illegal for health care providers to essentially perform surgery on anyone under 18. And I mean the surgery, this gender-affirming surgery we're talking about. It would be illegal for anyone to perform that on anyone under 18, and that would alter a person's biological sex characteristics. It would not prohibit... things like puberty blockers and hormone therapy because it only applies to surgery. It also says, you know, government funding, Medicaid, insurance, those sorts of things, they could not pay for these banned procedures. There are exceptions for, you know, certain sex development conditions and acquired physical or chemical abnormalities, according to this measure, and male circumcision is also covered in terms of the exceptions. But that being said, nationally, generally, Gender-affirming surgeries are extremely rare among minors. And Speaker 6 (6:01) finally, the proposal to increase penalties for human trafficking. Speaker 7 (6:05) Yeah, so at the most basic level, the measure would make sex trafficking punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole or early release. Human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude is already a Class 2 felony in Colorado. All this measure would do... is make it a class one felony. It would also, you know, outside of that adjustment, the measure essentially aims to crack down on people, you know, who arrange or sell travel that facilitates the exploitation of a minor. Speaker 8 (6:38) All right, so those are the three. What organizations are behind these measures? Like, who's actually spending money on this stuff? I Speaker 7 (6:45) will say, before I answer that, This is a hot chair, everyone. Speaker 6 (6:48) These Speaker 7 (6:49) wonderful HD cameras, if they could capture the beads of sweat rolling down my head. Speaker 2 (6:55) I Speaker 7 (6:55) can see them. Speaker 2 (6:56) That's why they Speaker 6 (6:57) call it the hot seat. Speaker 2 (6:58) Yeah, that's right. Thanks for Speaker 7