Colorado Was Once the ‘Hate State.’ A New Podcast Examines How Its Anti-LGBTQ+ Playbook Went National.

In 1992, Colorado voters approved a measure targeting LGBTQ+ rights, earning the state a national nickname: the “Hate State.” More than three decades later, the political strategy behind that campaign is resurfacing — this time with transgender people at the center of the fight.

A new three-part audio storytelling series from LOOKOUT, the nonprofit LGBTQ+ newsroom that has recently expanded its accountability reporting into Colorado, examines how the state helped build an anti-LGBTQ+ political playbook that continues to influence elections and policy nationwide.

The first episode of Hate State is available today, Oct. 20, with new installments scheduled for Oct. 22 and Oct. 29. Produced in collaboration with Odd Bird Sound and Word and Pizza Shark, the series explores how Colorado became a testing ground for anti-LGBTQ+ political organizing, and how that history and playbook is repeating itself as the country heads into the 2026 midterm elections.

The debut episode, “Making the 'Hate State'” traces the political and cultural forces that transformed Colorado Springs into what became known as the “Evangelical Vatican.” Through interviews with historian Will Schultz and gay activist and writer Phil Nash, the episode revisits the fight over Amendment 2, the 1992 ballot measure that sought to prevent governments in Colorado from protecting LGBTQ+ people against discrimination.

The series connects history to current political strategy from far-right groups across the country, by taking fights over LGBTQ+ rights out of legislatures and putting them directly before voters.

In Colorado, that approach is again being tested through Propositions 134 and 135, which would restrict transgender students’ participation in school sports and prohibit gender-affirming medical care for minors. Similar efforts are unfolding elsewhere, including in Arizona, where LOOKOUT has been reporting on the people and political networks behind the measures.

The timing is significant, with anti-transgender policies becoming a defining issue in state and national politics.

For LOOKOUT, the series also represents a new step in its effort to bring rigorous, community-focused LGBTQ+ journalism to audiences beyond its Arizona home.

Founded in Phoenix, Arizona in 2022, LOOKOUT has expanded its reporting into Colorado as part of a broader effort to build a regional newsroom dedicated to LGBTQ+ communities across the Southwest. The expansion follows years of reporting on the intersection of queer identity, politics, public institutions and accountability — coverage that often goes beyond arts and culture to examine how government decisions and political movements affect LGBTQ+ people’s daily lives.

The newsroom’s Colorado coverage has already examined the state’s ballot measures and the people organizing behind them. In an Oct. 8 investigation published in partnership with Westword, LOOKOUT reporters explored how the campaigns behind Propositions 134 and 135 echo the tactics that made Colorado a national symbol of anti-gay politics in the 1990s. A separate investigation into Tim Mooney examines the political operative’s role in turning contentious social issues into ballot questions across the Southwest.

Audio is an increasingly important part of that work. LOOKOUT has already experimented with weekly news coverage through The Roundup, produced with GAYPHX, offering updates on LGBTQ+ and civil rights news in Arizona and Colorado. The newsroom also produces The LOOKOUT, a biweekly podcast that takes listeners behind the scenes of its most consequential journalism.

Hate State builds on those efforts with a more ambitious form of narrative storytelling, using interviews, historical context and archival audio to bring a complex political history to life. The project reflects LOOKOUT’s broader effort to meet audiences where they are while developing new ways to tell stories that might otherwise go uncovered.

Newsrooms interested in republishing Hate State can do so for free. The series is available for listening and republication, making it possible for other outlets to bring the reporting to their own audiences.

To listen to the first episode, visit LOOKOUT’s Hate State series page. For more reporting on LGBTQ+ politics and accountability across the Southwest, visit LOOKOUTnews.org.