Colorado

On Monday, May 19, four parents’ rights organizations sued the state of Colorado over its recently enacted radical transgender legislation.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim the new law, HB25-1312, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution because it compels state-sponsored speech and is unconstitutionally vague.

Background

The measure received nationwide attention in the last month due to its brazen language threatening free speech, religious freedom and parental rights.

Focus on the Family joined widespread objections to the law. President Jim Daly, spoke out against the bill online. Three analysts from the organization testified against the measure, and in support of parental rights and free speech, at the state capitol.

Despite the constitutional concerns raised by many Coloradans, the legislation was signed into law by the governor on May 16.

Complaint

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Defending Education, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm and Dr. Travis Morrell.

The complaint alleges the new law “punishes Coloradans for their speech and compels them to use language endorsing the State’s views on highly contested and highly political matters of sex and gender.”

Plaintiffs assert this law was “designed to punish disfavored speech.”

The purpose of H.B. 25-1312 is clear. The law punishes those who refuse to speak using chosen names and pronouns, and it does so in order to suppress traditional beliefs about sex and gender. In other words, the law openly discriminates based on viewpoint.

They continue, “The state cannot place its thumb on the scale to favor one side of a contentious public debate. It certainly cannot stifle viewpoints it doesn’t like simply because it finds those views offensive or disagreeable.”

The complaint goes on to cite several examples of bill sponsors confirming that the measure’s purpose is to suppress traditional views about sex and gender, including an example of lawmakers likening parental rights groups to Nazis and the KKK.

In an exclusive interview with Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, Vice President and Counsel for Defending Education, Sarah Parshall Perry, explained why the new law is especially dangerous.

This is Colorado’s maneuver to prevent any public disagreement with gender ideology anywhere, for any reason. The state has just taken a sledgehammer to free speech principles and free exercise of religion principles — both of which are guaranteed by the Constitution’s First Amendment. That kind of breathtakingly unconstitutional action should worry not just Coloradans, but every American in the country. 

Specific Violations

The complaint alleges HB25-1312 violates the constitution in four specific ways.

First, plaintiffs argue that the law’s use of the phrases “gender expression” and “chosen name” violates the First Amendment because it unconstitutionally compels speakers to use state-approved language.

Second, the complaint alleges Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) unconstitutionally includes a provision that prohibits making people feel unwelcome based on a protected characteristic. That provision is a violation of the First Amendment, plaintiffs claim, because it prohibits speech on gender and sexuality contrary to the state’s approved content and viewpoint.

Third, the lawsuit contends the law defining “chosen name” and “gender expression” is “impermissibly vague” under the Fourteenth Amendment, which will lead to arbitrary enforcement. Arbitrary enforcement is illegal because it violates the core principles of due process and equal protection.

Fourth, plaintiffs allege the unwelcome provision in CADA is “impermissibly vague” under the Fourteenth Amendment which will lead to arbitrary enforcement. When a law is arbitrarily enforced, individuals do not have fair notice of what conduct is prohibited and it invites biased enforcement of the law.

Parental Rights

This radical trans law continues to threaten parental rights.

Defending Education Vice President, Sarah Parshall Perry, had this to say about what is at stake for parents:

House Bill 25-1312 punishes Coloradans for their speech and compels them to use language endorsing the State’s views on highly contested and highly political matters of sex and gender.

Among its victims will be parents of children who might believe themselves to be transgender and with whom those parents disagree. If any parent in Colorado enters a place of public accommodation — which is described so broadly as to include virtually any public space — with that child and “misgenders” that child, the parent can be hit with a charge of discrimination under state law.

The law doesn’t just target parents who oppose gender ideology, it forces mandatory pronoun use on every Coloradan in a public place. 

Request for Relief

Plaintiffs in the case have asked the court to issue an injunction barring the state from prosecuting anyone for violating the law while the case is litigated.

The lawsuit also asks for judgment declaring HB25-1312 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment and it be stricken down.

The case is Defending Education et al v. Sullivan et al.

The Daily Citizen will provide updates to this developing story.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed an extreme “transgender” bill into law that threaten the rights of all Coloradans in homes, schools, the workplace – and more.

House Bill 1312, Concerning Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals, was opposed by thousands of Colorado citizens who signed petitions, attended rallies at the Capitol, testified against the measure and made phone calls and sent emails to the governor and legislators.

More than 700 people registered to give public testimony on this bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee – 80% of those individuals opposing the measure.

The Colorado General Assembly ignored opposition to the measure, as the act passed along party lines with a Senate vote of 20-14 and a House vote of 38-20.

Governor Polis signed the heavily contested measure administratively, meaning he allowed the bill to become a law without physically signing it, on Friday, May 16.

As reported by the Daily Citizen, the legislation received such severe opposition – even radical LGBT activist groups expressed concerns about it – that it was heavily amended by the Colorado General Assembly.

Despite those amendments, the law still targets free speech, religious freedom and parental rights.

HB 1312, was labeled the “Kelly Loving Act,” after a transgender-identified man who lived as a woman.

Loving was killed in the horrific Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs by a “transgender” man who identified as “non-binary.”

Here’s how the unconstitutional measure threatens a variety of rights:

• The law forces educators and schools, both public and charter, to permit students to choose their own name, mandating that educators must lie if a student identifies as something other than their natural sex and chooses a name to match that identification.

• It requires public and charter schools to allow “each student to choose from any of the options provided in the dress code policy.” So boys may wear girls clothing – and vice versa.

• HB 1312 allows individuals to change their sex designation up to three times on identification documents. Courts may allow even more changes if “the sex designation change is required.”

• County clerks must allow individuals to change their name on marriage licenses.

• The law adds “chosen name” to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and defines “gender expression” as “an individual’s way of reflecting and expressing the individual’s gender to the outside world, typically demonstrated through appearance, dress, chosen name, and how the individual chooses to be addressed.”

That last provision is especially important, as it adds the refusal of any citizen to use a “chosen name” to the state’s non-discrimination laws.

Teachers could be charged for refusing to acknowledge a student’s “transgender” status and could report parents who don’t affirm a child’s sexual identity confusion.

Colorado Child Protective Services and courts could consider a parent’s refusal to affirm their child’s disorder as discrimination, affecting custody rights and disputes. This was happening even before the act was passed.

Businesses and workers could be charged with discrimination if they fail to acknowledge the lie that a person can somehow be transformed into the opposite sex or a new, made-up “gender identity.”

In her testimony against HB 1312 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Daily Citizen writer Nicole Hunt excoriated the bill, saying, “This bill is misleading titled ‘Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals.’ A more accurate title would be ‘How to break up families and use the law to steal children from their parents.'”

By adding “chosen name” to the definition of gender expression,” parents could be viewed as discriminating against their own children.

Hunt stated the harms to children from pushing them toward transitioning.

“It would force parents to support dangerous, experimental drugs, hormones and surgeries for their children struggling with sexual identity confusion.”

“This is an obvious attempt to force state-sponsored radical gender ideology speech on Colorado families and it’s unconstitutional.”

She added, “Focus on the Family firmly believes that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children including their healthcare decisions and their moral or religious training.”

Real protections for civil rights don’t take away the civil rights of others – as HB 1312 does. Opponents are already planning lawsuits against the act to protect Coloradans rights.

Related Articles and Resources

Colorado Legislature Passes Radical ‘Transgender’ Bill With Amendments

Education Department Warns Colorado: Children ‘Do Not Belong to Government’

Focus on the Family Testifies Against Nightmare Bill, Colorado’s Radical ‘Trans’ Legislation Advances

Oppose Colorado’s Radical Abortion and ‘Transgender Rights’ Legislation

Radical Colorado ‘Transgender’ Bill Threatens Parents’ Rights and Free Speech

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