Colorado Is One Step Away From Parental Purgatory

The legislation, officially known as HB 25-1312, passed the Colorado House on Sunday, April 6. It is now headed to the state’s Democratic-majority Senate for a vote. If approved, it will be sent to the desk of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

The bill is outrageously irrational and exemplifies the extreme measures taken by some Democrats and liberals. If passed—given the current political climate—it seems likely that this legislation would provide legal grounds for the state to remove custody from parents who legislators claim “misgender” their children.

You might want to read that again slowly, as this situation resembles “Twilight Zone” material that is becoming a reality. These are not parents who have harmed their children in any way. They are God-fearing individuals who wish to raise their children in a morally sound manner. However, the state is insisting that if the parents do not acknowledge the delusions that their children may have been brainwashed into believing, they risk having their children removed from the home. This could lead to these loving parents losing custody of their kids.

The Liberal Democrats hold control of the Colorado House and Senate, raising concerns about objectivity in the legislative process. Once the bill reaches the Governor’s desk, the prospects for these parents are bleak. The Governor, who is openly gay, is married to Marlon Reis. Reis made history by becoming the first same-sex First Gentleman in the United States when Governor Polis was inaugurated on January 8, 2019. His focus includes animal rights and welfare, environmental and civil rights, and, not surprisingly, LGBT rights.

This bill feels like it has been railroaded through Colorado’s political system. It was created based on a biological and scientific falsehood and has been jammed forward, riding on delusional thinking. The bill is dangerous. It instructs courts to consider actions like deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish information about an individual’s gender-affirming healthcare as coercive tactics when determining what is in a child’s best interests during custody and visitation cases.

If enacted, the proposed law would also prevent Colorado courts from recognizing out-of-state rulings that penalize parents for allowing their minors to receive transgender-related medical care.

Erin Friday, a long-time Democrat and a strong advocate for parental rights, highlighted that this bill’s implications should concern individuals from all political backgrounds. “This issue should be bipartisan,” she stated. Friday urged parents to challenge the legislation through legal action, public discourse, and civic engagement, including providing testimony at legislative hearings.

Both Friday and Colorado mother Erin Lee reject the idea that children can be born in the wrong body. Yet the left is so tyrannically rigid that during a public hearing last month, a Democratic lawmaker likened parents opposing the bill to extremist groups, including the “KKK.”

“This is giving the authority to our state to take our children away if we don’t agree with these gender transitions, so it’s got huge ramifications for all parents, especially those in custody situations who are fighting with their ex-spouses to stop their children from being medicalized,” Lee explained during an appearance on “The Faulkner Focus.”

“It opens the door for all parents to potentially have their children forcibly removed by the state if they’re not willing to affirm their child’s mental health distress.”

Lee and Friday have personal reasons for opposing the bill. Both women say their daughters once identified as boys, but they did not support their daughters’ transitions. Eventually, both daughters stopped identifying as transgender.

“This bill will not only determine that parents like Erin and I are abusers — both of us had Child Protective Services come to our home when we refused to call our daughter males — but this bill also affects the press and its freedom of the press, and it will require them to use the chosen name of a child, how they choose it, and any adult.

She also correctly pointed out that the legislation represents a “massive First Amendment violation,” wrongly mandating another person’s right to free speech.

Brent Leatherwood, President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and Mike Proud, Executive Director of the Colorado Baptist Convention, strongly oppose the bill. They signed a joint letter to Colorado senators expressing their grave concerns about the law.

“In recent years, Colorado has garnered a reputation as a state that is hostile to Christians and other people of faith who adhere to biblical teaching and biological realities on matters such as marriage, family, and sexuality.”

“While these actions have all thankfully been struck down by courts, the legislation before you would codify the anti-Christian moves we have seen in recent years. Is such animus toward people of faith the kind of legacy you want to leave for Colorado?”

The letter details the concerns of the ERLC and the CBC regarding the legislation.

• Allows Colorado courts to consider “deadnaming” (using a person’s name given at birth) and “misgendering” (using a person’s correct, biologically corresponding pronouns) when determining child custody cases.
• Requires dress-coded public schools to allow children of either biological sex to choose between following the boys or girls dress code without their parents’ consent or guidance.
• Defines “deadnaming” and “misgendering” as discriminatory acts under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.

“These provisions are nothing short of an attack on human dignity, people of faith, and anyone who questions the ever-changing cultural definitions of sexuality.”

“Should this bill become law, it threatens the conscience rights of individuals, the relationship between parents and children, basic free speech rights for all, and will inevitably lead to conflict between church and state. As an elected representative for Colorado, this should be an unacceptable proposition for you, regardless of partisan commitments.”

“We would urge you to vote against this destructive legislation. It should be clear by now that, nationwide, our culture is rejecting this sort of extremist agenda. Colorado should not be the place where it takes its final stand.”

Under Polis, this type of radical promotion of the transgender illusion has become the perverted norm. In 2019, Polis signed bill HB19-1039, which simplified the process for changing the gender marker on a person’s birth certificate without requiring surgical transition, a court order, or a doctor’s note.

That same year, Polis also signed bill HB19-1129, which prohibited state-licensed mental health care providers from counseling minors to accept their biological gender.

Colorado’s ban on discussions with minors will be challenged in the Supreme Court due to a lawsuit brought by a Christian licensed counselor in the state.

I would not have believed this was possible if I had heard this story ten years ago. This trend must be reversed. The state motto, “Nil Sine Numine,” which is Latin for “Nothing without Providence or Deity, “ has become a joke, even though the phrase appears on the ribbon of the State Seal.

Providence is the guardianship and care provided by a deity or God. Under the current liberals in power, that guardianship and care does not include parents or anyone with Christian beliefs.