Some stories begin with a single kitchen-table grief and only later reveal themselves as public weather. In Colorado's midterm vote, voters approved three measures championed by a group born from one family's account of a school dispute that its advocates describe as a living nightmare and that the district says was never resolved against it in court. Whatever one concludes about the underlying facts, the outcome shows how private pain, once voiced, can become a statewide argument about children, schools, and who gets to decide what a child is told and taught.
Colorado Mother Who Says Daughter Was Secretly Transitioned Helps Lead Ballot Push on Girls' Sports
Lee says her daughter experienced suicidal ideation and estrangement from family and friends during a school-related gender identity dispute, though these claims are contested by the district.
"We walked through a living nightmare," Lee said of her family's experience.
Mark
Why is this campaign getting attention beyond Colorado?
Mimi
Colorado leans Democratic, and Hickenlooper won with 60 percent in the same election. Yet Proposition 134 on sports and Proposition 135 on surgeries each passed with about 52 percent.
Mark
So Lee says it crosses party lines.
Mimi
That's her reading. She says voters backed Democrats and also voted yes on these measures.
Luke
It's a reasonable inference from the totals, but we don't have any data on how individual voters split. The ballot results alone can't confirm the same people did both.
Mark
What about the money and organizing she describes?
Mimi
She cites 3,300 petition circulators, 1,900 notaries and over 1,000 churches, and says opponents spent more than $5 million, a 20-to-1 advantage.
Luke
Those are her figures. The spending claim in particular is her estimate, and the piece doesn't give independent numbers.
Mark
And the personal story behind it?
Mimi
She says her daughter was secretly socially transitioned at 12, and that the family faced suicidal ideation and estrangement over nearly a year.
Luke
That account is Lee's. The district won't discuss individual students, but says the lawsuit was dismissed, upheld by the Tenth Circuit in April 2025, and denied Supreme Court review in October 2025, with no finding of liability. The opposing groups' responses are still missing.
Le Pouls
- Three ballot measures on youth gender policy and sports passed in Colorado, and the sports measure cleared with only about 52 percent of the vote.
- The campaign's founder describes a family crisis inside a school district, while the district says it cannot discuss individual students and points to dismissed litigation.
- A grassroots operation claims more than 3,300 petition circulators and over 1,000 supporting churches against opponents who outspent it more than twenty to one.
- The founder frames the results as cross-party proof of a cultural shift and suggests the model could travel to other states.
- The contested claims remain unresolved, and opposing groups had not yet responded to requests for comment at publication.
Some stories begin with a single kitchen-table grief and only later reveal themselves as public weather. In Colorado's midterm vote, voters approved three measures championed by a group born from one family's account of a school dispute that its advocates describe as a living nightmare and that the district says was never resolved against it in court. Whatever one concludes about the underlying facts, the outcome shows how private pain, once voiced, can become a statewide argument about children, schools, and who gets to decide what a child is told and taught.
Erin Lee describes herself as a former left-leaning Democrat who stayed politically quiet until a family crisis pulled her into public life. Now she co-leads Protect Kids Colorado, the group behind three ballot measures that passed in the midterms, in a state that also returned Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper with 60 percent of the vote. Proposition 133, on penalties for child sex trafficking, drew about 62 percent support. Proposition 134, which would generally require students to compete on sports teams matching their biological sex, and Proposition 135, which would bar certain gender-transition surgeries for minors, each drew about 52 percent.
Lee says the campaign began with her own family. Her twelve-year-old daughter, she says, was socially transitioned at school without her parents' knowledge. When Lee and another family questioned the change, she alleges, school officials treated them as unfit, and she recalls being told they could have a living son or a dead daughter. She describes nearly a year of recovery, including her daughter's suicidal thoughts and strained relationships with relatives who disagreed with how the parents responded. Her public account of that ordeal, she says, drew other families who shared their own stories and eventually fueled a statewide effort with thousands of petition circulators and wide church support.
The Poudre School District does not comment on individual students, citing federal privacy law. It says the lawsuit Lee's family joined was dismissed by a federal court, that the Tenth Circuit affirmed in 2025, and that the Supreme Court declined review later that year. The district says it was never found liable. Opposing groups did not respond to requests for comment. Lee reads the vote as a sign that her cause crosses party lines and could inspire similar efforts elsewhere, while the factual disputes at the heart of her story remain contested.
Erin Lee describes herself as a former left-leaning Democrat who voted but stayed politically disengaged. This week she is the co-founder and executive director of the group behind three Colorado ballot measures that passed in the midterm election, in a state that also returned Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper to office with 60 percent of the vote.
Lee's group, Protect Kids Colorado, championed Proposition 133, Proposition 134 and Proposition 135. Proposition 133 raises penalties for child sex trafficking to life in prison without parole, and it passed with roughly 62 percent support. Proposition 134 would generally require students to compete on school sports teams matching their biological sex, which keeps boys out of girls' sports. Proposition 135 would prohibit certain gender-transition surgeries for minors. Each of those two measures received about 52 percent.
Lee told Fox News Digital that the work began as a personal matter more than five years ago. She says her 12-year-old daughter was secretly socially transitioned in her sixth-grade classroom. In 2023, Lee, her husband and another couple, whose sixth-grade daughters also attended Wellington Middle-High School, sued educators at the Poudre School District. The America First Policy Institute and Illumine Legal assisted them, according to a copy of the lawsuit.
Lee says school officials turned on her family after the parents questioned the change in their daughter's gender identity. She alleges the district sent in a well-child check on her children and assumed the parents were unfit because they did not immediately affirm. She also says they were pressured with the line, "Would you rather have a living son or a dead daughter?" "We walked through a living nightmare," she said. By her account, it took almost a year to get her daughter through that period, which included suicidal ideation and estrangement from people in the family's life who disagreed with how they handled it.
Lee says her daughter eventually moved on from the confusion and asked her parents to speak up to help other kids. Lee's account of that went viral, and people began bringing her their own stories. That, she says, grew into the statewide campaign.
The campaign's scale, as Lee tells it, was considerable: more than 3,300 petition circulators, over 1,900 notaries and support from more than 1,000 churches. She claims opponents spent more than $5 million, outspending her group by more than 20 to 1. "This really was a movement of the people," she said.
Lee reads the results as proof that opposition to certain transgender policies crosses party lines. "Colorado broke ranks where they voted for Democrats," she said, "They also voted yes on these commonsense child protection measures." She called gender ideology "a house of cards" and suggested the vote could inspire similar efforts in other states.
The Poudre School District disputes the framing of the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the district does not comment on individual students, citing federal student privacy law. The spokesperson said the claims in Lee v. Poudre School District R-1 were dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and the Tenth Circuit affirmed that dismissal in April 2025. The plaintiffs petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied review in October 2025. The district says it was not found liable at any stage.
Fox News Digital also contacted One Colorado, an LGBTQ advocacy group, and Families Not Politics, which opposed the measures. The source did not report a response from either. Whether other states see similar efforts is the open question Lee's argument points toward.
Citations marquantes
Colorado broke ranks where they voted for Democrats. They also voted yes on these commonsense child protection measures.— Erin Lee, Protect Kids Colorado
At no stage of this litigation was the district found liable.— Poudre School District spokesperson
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