This year, voters in five states will decide on ballot measures that would restrict the rights of transgender people. One of those states is Colorado. 

But Coloradans who go way back may notice something familiar. 

That’s because the state has been here before. Thirty years ago, voters approved Amendment 2, which sought to prevent local governments from protecting gay and lesbian people from discrimination. That successful campaign helped earn Colorado the nickname the “Hate State,” a reputation it spent decades trying to leave behind.

Now, Coloradans face a similar campaign. Because two questions on this year’s midterm ballot use the same tactics, strategy and campaign slogans as Amendment 2. This time, though, a different part of the queer community is in the crosshairs. 

Hate State is a three-part miniseries about Colorado’s history as a testing ground for far-right policies, and how the playbook used to target gay and lesbian people in 1992 is at work again today, focused on transgender people. 

Subscribe now and listen to the first episode Oct. 20.

Hate State is a production of Odd Bird Sound & Word and LOOKOUT News, hosted by Ann Marie Awad and Xandra McMahon, with production and editorial support from Pizza Shark.

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