COLORADO — As schools and states across the nation are pressured by the Trump administration over compliance with his ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, Colorado institutions–specifically at the high school level–remain silent on how they plan to balance federal executive orders with Colorado state law.
A week ago, the Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over the school’s failure to comply with his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order.
Also last week, federal investigations targeting the state of Maine announced the state was violating Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports and use girls’ facilities. That announcement came after President Trump and Maine’s governor had a public spat over the issue at the White House in February.
On Tuesday this week, the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools and Oregon School Activities Association.
In Colorado, the University of Colorado system said it is complying with all current federal and state laws governing athletic participation in women’s sports. The university added it is not aware of any concerns from federal agencies regarding compliance, indicating there are likely no federal investigations into Colorado at this point.
But on the high school level, the issue is much murkier. The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) appears to have sent no communication to Colorado school districts since a February 10 email, according to a KOAA records request.
News5 sent a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to District 11, District 12, and District 20 in Colorado Springs. The CORA sought any email communication with CHSAA from the date of the Executive Order through the present regarding transgender athletes. Each CORA yielded the same email sent on February 10.
Five days after Trump signed his executive order, CHSAA’s email noted the ban placed “our member schools–and CHSAA as a whole–in a difficult position.”
The email said CHSAA is actively working with its legal team trying to navigate how to comply with the federal directives and Colorado state law. Colorado provides some of the most robust protections for transgender people, including athletes, in the nation.
“At this time, the full impact of the Executive Order remains unclear,” the email from CHSAA Commissioner Michael Krueger said. “The directive does not mandate immediate action by CHSAA, the CDE [Colorado Department of Education], or local school districts but instead directs federal agencies to take steps that could lead to changes in funding and oversight.”
The email said Colorado state law remains in effect, which protects individuals from discrimination and harassment in schools based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender expression. CHSAA bylaws also allow for participation by transgender athletes.
Krueger said CHSAA will share additional guidance when it’s available, but based on the News5 CORA request, no further communication had been sent since.
Tim Holbrook, a law professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, said he would expect CHSAA to take a “wait-and-see” approach.
“The Executive Order really just reflects what Trump thinks the interpretation of Title IX should be, and that discrimination on the basis of sex means that trans girls and women cannot play in women's and girl sports,” Holbrook said. “But he's not the ultimate arbiter of what that means. It has to go to the courts.”
Under the Biden administration, the opposite view was taken regarding discrimination and Title IX, arguing that barring transgender athletes was a violation.
Like many of his orders, this ban could wind its way through the court system. But that process is often lengthy. Meantime, the Trump administration can continue threatening to withhold federal funding for schools or states that aren’t in compliance.
“Even if the courts say, ‘Well, that's not legal.’ It's hard for schools to survive that gap in funding,” said Holbrook. “So I would imagine you will see some beginning to implement the ban, just because that risk is too great, particularly for their very vulnerable populations, where they need those resources to support the students on different levels."
Though most school districts are primarily funded on the state and local level, federal funding still comes in the form of grants for low-income students, special education, professional development, and more. The federal grants vary from district to district, but for some, the loss, or even the threat of the loss, could be enough to push ahead with a ban on transgender athletes regardless.
For advocates of transgender youth like One Colorado, which bills itself as the state’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, Trump’s ban could lead to extreme harm for Colorado’s transgender population.
“At the end of the day, this is not about fairness. This is about discrimination,” said Brandi Hardy, lead field organizing strategist for One Colorado. “Trans kids are more susceptible to depression and anxiety and suicidal ideation. And it's not because they're trans, it's because they are excluded from things that their peers are allowed to participate in.”
According to a recent study from the Trevor Project, 39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year — including 46% of transgender and nonbinary young people. LGBTQ+ youth of color reported higher rates than White peers.
The most recent Healthy Kids Colorado Survey showed that 26% of transgender youth who took the survey reported attempting suicide one or more times in the previous 12 months, while 7% of cisgender youth did. Twenty percent of bisexual and 18% of gay or lesbian youth reported attempting suicide compared to 4% of straight youth.
“We are focused on a Colorado for all, where everyone can thrive no matter who they are or how they identify,” said Shelby Wieman with Governor Polis’ office. “All athletes should have an opportunity to participate, and at the same time local leagues should determine the best way to do so to maximize both participation and fair play.”
On the other side of the argument, outspoken critics of transgender athletes in women’s sports like Eli Bremer, former Olympian and one-time Republican U.S. Senate candidate, said President Trump’s ban was “100% the right move.”
“Obviously, this is causing problems in Colorado and elsewhere, where you have state laws that contravene the federal laws, but the federal laws can and should triumph on this, and we will protect the women's sport category,” said Bremer.
Bremer said it’s about protecting the women’s sports category and youth sports teams. “If we don't do this, it's going to really hurt the youth sport teams, because parents are going to start pulling their girls out of sports teams. Those teams will become financially insolvent,” he said.
CHSAA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In February, in response to a query of how many transgender athletes participate in CHSAA-sanctioned events, the organization said in an email: “Due to privacy laws, this information is neither shared with or received by CHSAA.”
The Department of Justice and Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.
The Colorado Department of Education directed sport-specific questions back to CHSAA.
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CSPD investigating sexual assault on a child allegations against former D11 employee
On Friday, CSPD confirmed to News5 that they are investigating claims involving former D11 Athletic Director Christopher Noll for allegations of sexual assault of a child by a person of trust.
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