The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against Colorado this year for targeting a Christian therapist.
Colorado didn't learn its lesson after another crushing defeat.
What Colorado's own witness said about 3-year-olds and gender identity on the stand should end this case.
How Jared Polis Cut Catholic Families Out of Colorado Universal Preschool Funding
In 2023, Colorado launched what it called a "universal" preschool program – worth up to $6,300 per child per year, redeemable at any public or private school of a family's choosing.
Except Catholic and Christian ones.
A school that wants in must commit in writing to treating a child's declared gender as settled fact – no matter the child's age, no matter what parents believe at home.
The Archdiocese of Denver will not sign it.
Colorado Democrat Governor Jared Polis has publicly defended the exclusion, insisting the program is open to any religious school willing to sign the agreement.
That decision locks 1,500 children across 30 schools out of a program their parents' tax dollars helped fund.
Enrollment at Catholic preschools across the state has dropped 20 percent since the program launched.
At least two Catholic preschools have shut down entirely.
Dan and Lisa Sheley have seven children, five enrolled at St. Mary's Catholic school in Littleton.
The couple pays full tuition out of pocket rather than send their kids to a school that contradicts what they believe.
"I don't subscribe to this ideology of choosing a child's gender," the father said, "but because of that, you're excluding my family from education that they deserve."
Colorado calls its gender identity requirement a neutral rule of general applicability – no different than a fire code or a vaccination mandate, with no exceptions.
The program's own director said on record that single-race schools and schools built exclusively for children who identify as transgender were welcome to join.
A Catholic school was not.
Colorado's own expert witness admitted at trial that no one can predict when a child will come to identify differently from their biological sex.
That expert was talking about 3-year-olds.
St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy Is Colorado Fourth Religious Freedom Case at the Supreme Court
This is not Colorado's first time in front of the Supreme Court defending an attack on religious practice.
It is its fourth.
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled against Colorado in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission after the state tried to force a Christian baker to design cakes celebrating a same-sex wedding.
In 2023, Colorado returned with 303 Creative v. Elenis, trying to compel a Christian web designer to build websites celebrating same-sex marriage – and lost 6-3.
Colorado came back again with Chiles v. Salazar, targeting a Christian counselor who offered faith-based therapy and refused to affirm gender transition for clients who didn't want that message.
The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against Colorado just months ago.
"The State of Colorado has shown an utter disregard for the First Amendment rights of people like Kaley Chiles," said Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jim Campbell after the ruling.
St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy is set for oral arguments at the Supreme Court on November 3, 2026, with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty representing the Archdiocese of Denver and the Sheley family.
The Court has already told states they cannot invite private schools into a public program and then bar the ones that pray.
Colorado is asking the Court to abandon that principle while Catholic families keep writing tuition checks their neighbors don't have to write.
The families also asked the Court to permanently seal the legal exit Colorado keeps using – the rule that lets states write "neutral" laws that happen to crush religious freedom, then claim they weren't targeting anyone.
If the Court takes that step, Colorado's three consecutive losses become the warm-up act for something much larger.
A state that spent eight years designing laws to pressure Christians into compliance will have handed religious liberty advocates the ruling that makes that game unplayable.
Sources:
- Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, "St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy," BecketFund.org, 2026.
- Fox News, "Colorado's Latest Supreme Court Loss Adds to Growing String of Culture War Defeats," FoxNews.com, April 2026.
- Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, "Colorado Keeps Waging War On Religious Freedom. Now It's Attacking Preschools," The Daily Wire, September 19, 2026.
- Washington Examiner, "Colorado's Pattern of Religious Persecution," WashingtonExaminer.com, April 25, 2026.
- Andrea M. Picciotti-Bayer, "Colorado Goes After Religious Liberty in 'St. Mary v. Roy,'" National Catholic Register, July 17, 2026.
