Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone has spoken out against Proposition 134, the measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that would ban trans students from school sports teams that match their gender. On Oct. 7, she got an email from one of the people who started it.
Westword reporter Hannah Metzger reviewed the message, which used Titone’s deadname and anti-trans slurs. Westword identified the sender as Rich Guggenheim, an original proponent of the measure. The email defended the insults as a response to Titone’s use of “cis,” saying, “I’ve got all kinds of slurs.”
Titone was elected in 2018 as Colorado’s first openly transgender state legislator. She represents part of Jefferson County.
Titone told Westword she saw the message as evidence of hostility toward trans people behind the ballot campaign. “I can passionately disagree with someone without using slurs,” she said.
Who Is Rich Guggenheim?
Guggenheim, who is gay, was one of the two official proponents of Initiative 70, the first version of what became Proposition 134. Erin Lee of Protect Kids Colorado took his place when the measure was refiled with technical fixes, according to Westword.
He has also described himself as the Colorado state chapter leader for Gays Against Groomers, in a 2024 court declaration. The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks the group in its files on anti-LGBTQ+ extremism.
It isn’t his first fight with the Legislature. In 2024, he and Gays Against Groomers sued five Colorado Democratic lawmakers over committee rules against misgendering and deadnaming witnesses. In his declaration, he said a Senate committee chair cut his microphone during his testimony on a 2024 bill. A federal judge dismissed the case, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld the dismissal in March. Westword reports he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take it up in July.
Guggenheim’s Response to Westword
Guggenheim declined to authenticate the message when Westword contacted him. The outlet reported that his reply came from the same email address as the message to Titone.
“Cis,” short for cisgender, describes people whose gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth. It’s a standard term in medicine and journalism, including in GLAAD’s media reference guide.
What Colorado’s Proposition 134 and Proposition 135 Would Do
If voters approve Prop 134, it takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, according to Colorado’s official Blue Book. Every K-12 and college team in Colorado, public or private, would have to be labeled male, female or coed. Students the measure defines as biologically male couldn’t join teams designated for girls or women, Chalkbeat Colorado reported. It doesn’t say how schools would check a student’s sex. Lee has suggested doctor’s notes or cheek-swab DNA tests.
Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, told Chalkbeat the measure is “written so vaguely that there aren’t any boundaries, no parameters, no appeal process at all.”
Protect Kids Colorado is also behind Prop 135, which would ban gender-affirming surgery for minors. Colorado is one of four states voting on trans athletes in school sports this year, along with Arizona, Nebraska and Washington. Trans health care has already been in Colorado courts this year, after the state Supreme Court ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado to resume care for trans youth in May.
Ballots are due by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
