Government · Denver, CO Metro · August 17, 2026
SCOTUS to Hear Case on Colorado Forcing Religious Preschools to Accept LGBT Policy
What Alinsky tactic is being used
2 of the thirteen rules are in play here — campaigns rarely run just one.
Rule 4
“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
The parishes' central move is to hold Colorado to its own book: the state named the program "universal" and promised every family free preschool at the provider of its choice, yet the Archdiocese's 34 preschools are outside it. The plaintiffs press the same point on exceptions — the state permits providers to prioritize disabled or low-income children but grants no religious accommodation, which is exactly the gap Judge Domenico identified in the related Darren Patterson ruling when he wrote that the statute "permits exceptions in the discretion of the government." The tactic works here only because the inconsistency is documented in the state's own rules.
Counter-Rule 4 · Radical Integrity
Close the gap between stated values and actual practice before anyone else finds it. This tactic only works where the gap is real.
The same tactic can be turned on a church school, so close your own gap first: pull your enrollment policy, employee handbook, and hiring criteria and check that what they say matches what your school actually does, and that each religious requirement is stated as doctrine rather than preference. Where a stated standard is not being applied evenly, fix it in writing this month and date the revision. If your school ever seeks an accommodation, the record it produces will be read line by line.
Rule 3
“Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”
The fight is not being had on ground the parishes know. It turns on a signature line in a state provider agreement and on the quality standards written under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 26.5-4-205(1)(b) — administrative terrain where a parish preschool director, not a canon lawyer or a lobbyist, is the one who has to decide what to sign. That is why action items 1 and 2 exist at all: the decisive document is a contract most institutions sign without reading.
Counter-Rule 3 · Preparation and Width
Prepare the unfamiliar ground before you are dragged onto it. "I don't know, I'll find out and come back" beats an improvised answer.
Prepare that ground before you are standing on it. Ask your state's early childhood or education agency for the current provider agreement and the exact nondiscrimination assurance text, read it alongside the rule number it cites, and have the person who would actually sign it read it too. When someone asks at a board meeting whether the clause binds hiring as well as enrollment, "I don't know — I'll get the agreement and come back" is the right answer, not a guess.
Chapter 3 sets out the rules; Chapter 15 answers each of them in turn. This is that pairing applied to this story.
Know where you stand
The free 4-minute assessment identifies your mountain and your institution’s capture phase — so alerts like this one arrive matched to where you actually stand.
Facing this yourself? Ask. Describe what is happening and get what the book, Scripture, and the law of your state say, with the exact words to use. Your first one is free.