Gender Ideology Threatens Religious Freedom in Colorado

Religious freedom in America is under attack by gender ideologues, and Colorado is leading the way. The state has tried to silence counselors through a ban on so-called “conversion therapy,” a case that will be argued today before the Supreme Court. And now, Colorado has turned its sights on very young children by hijacking its new taxpayer-funded universal preschool program to force gender ideology on children as young as three and four, while pushing Catholic and other Christian preschools to the margins. Families wishing to participate in the program are told that a Christian school’s religious convictions (not to mention biological reality) make them unworthy participants in a program meant to help children thrive.

Last week, in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t bat an eye at the state’s open discrimination. Instead, the court praised Colorado’s actions as a “model” for how other states should act. One of the state’s experts — who testified at trial that she had treated “quite a few” transgender preschoolers — insisted that a preschooler could begin the year as “cisgender” but soon “be revealed as gender diverse.” She even speculated that any school holding “a sincere religious belief about sexual orientation and gender identity” should be excluded from Colorado’s “universal” preschool program because it would likely allow LGBTQ students “to be teased.” Remarkably, these sweeping hypotheticals and conjectures were accepted without scrutiny and elevated into a justification for excluding Catholic and other Christian preschools that embrace traditional religious teaching on human sexuality and identity from Colorado’s universal preschool program.

About the Author

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is director of the Conscience Project and recipient of the Religious Freedom Institute’s 2025 Religious Freedom Impact Award.

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Religious freedom in America is under attack by gender ideologues, and Colorado is leading the way. The state has tried to silence counselors through a ban on so-called “conversion therapy,” a case that will be argued today before the Supreme Court. And now, Colorado has turned its sights on very young children by hijacking its new taxpayer-funded universal preschool program to force gender ideology on children as young as three and four, while pushing Catholic and other Christian preschools to the margins. Families wishing to participate in the program are told that a Christian school’s religious convictions (not to mention biological reality) make them unworthy participants in a program meant to help children thrive.

Last week, in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a three-judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t bat an eye at the state’s open discrimination. Instead, the court praised Colorado’s actions as a “model” for how other states should act. One of the state’s experts — who testified at trial that she had treated “quite a few” transgender preschoolers — insisted that a preschooler could begin the year as “cisgender” but soon “be revealed as gender diverse.” She even speculated that any school holding “a sincere religious belief about sexual orientation and gender identity” should be excluded from Colorado’s “universal” preschool program because it would likely allow LGBTQ students “to be teased.” Remarkably, these sweeping hypotheticals and conjectures were accepted without scrutiny and elevated into a justification for excluding Catholic and other Christian preschools that embrace traditional religious teaching on human sexuality and identity from Colorado’s universal preschool program.