Colorado parents who call their gender-confused kids by their birth names and sex could be punished by the courts in custody disputes, according to a Democratic bill quickly making its way through the state legislature.
House Bill 25-1312 would require courts making child-custody decisions to consider “deadnaming” or “misgendering” as types of coercive control. It says that courts “shall consider reports of coercive control when determining the allocation of parental responsibilities in accordance with the best interests of the child.”
The bill would also add deadnaming and misgendering to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and prohibit schools from enforcing dress codes based on gender norms, among other provisions.
Proponents of the bill — also known as the Kelly Loving Act for a transgender individual killed by a nonbinary gunman at a gay nightclub in the 2022 — say the legislation will ensure that parents who support their transgender children’s transition are protected. But Republicans and other opponents say the bill is targeted at punishing parents who are skeptical of trans ideology and it could lead to them losing custody of their kids.
The bill, which was introduced in late March, was passed by the House mostly along party lines on Sunday. Democrats used a House rule to quickly end debate on it.
“I believe they did this to silence us, because they know how much negative attention this has been getting nationwide,” Republican state Representative Jarvis Caldwell said in a video posted on X. “If you recall, House Bill 1312 says that if your child is confused about their gender identity and you don’t affirm that confusion, that delusion, then you are guilty of child abuse and you can lose custody of your children.”
“It’s not me, it is not my constituents, it is not the people from my side of the aisle who are pushing this gender-identity crap on the kids of Colorado. They are,” he added, referring to Democrats and the trans-lobby pushing the legislation. “And what they want to do with this bill is say that if they confuse your children and you don’t affirm that confusion, they will take your child from you.”
State Representative Chris Richardson, a Republican, told Fox News that the bill is “bad policy” that addresses complex family issues that are “completely unknown territory” for many parents. “If they use the name that they gave their child at birth, that should not be held against them in a court of law,” he said. “That’s just absolutely wrong.”
Democratic backers of the bill have acknowledged that they didn’t consider the concerns of parent groups that aren’t aligned with the LGBTQ community. In a hearing last week, state Representative Yara Zokaie compared conservative parent groups to white supremacists, saying they are “actively making our trans community less safe every day.”
“I will call those groups hateful. And I am not the only person who has done so. Some of the groups in opposition to this bill are on a list of hate groups maintained by one of the most well known civil rights groups,” she said, referring to the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center. “And yes, I will compare that to saying it’s like asking someone working on civil rights legislation to consult with white supremacist groups. And I will do that unapologetically.”
Democrats in the House passed the bill mostly along party lines, with 36 votes in support, 20 opposed, and nine lawmakers absent. One Democrat voted against it. The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
Colorado lawmakers have already passed a bill this year requiring death certificates to include gender identity. The House has also passed HB 25-1309, which would require health plans to cover gender-affirming treatments, including hormone therapy, lip and breast augmentation, genital surgery, and hair removal.