Transgender Coloradans receive new discrimination protections

[Lori Dee]

Transgender Coloradans receive new discrimination protections as Gov. Polis signs bill into law
House Bill 1312 — the Kelly Loving Act — also makes it easier to change names, gender identity on documents
Link to Full Article
The Denver Post - Seth Klamann
UPDATED: May 16, 2025 at 4:41 PM MDT

Colorado law now explicitly protects transgender people from being "deadnamed" or misgendered in certain places under legislation signed into law Friday by Gov. Jared Polis.

Passed as House Bill 1312, the new law is formally named for Kelly Loving, a transgender woman who died in the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. The law expands the state's antidiscrimination laws, which apply to settings like workplaces and schools, to include provisions related to using a person's chosen name and referring to them how they wish.

It also makes it easier for people to change their gender identity on birth certificates and driver's licenses, and to change their names on marriage licenses.

Its antidiscrimination protections will go into effect immediately, as will another provision that requires schools with dress codes to allow students to choose from any option within the rules for uniforms.

The name- and gender-changing provisions will kick in on Oct. 1, 2026.

The bill was drafted from a survey of more than 500 transgender Coloradans, many of whom later testified to lawmakers about the discrimination they faced in their daily lives and the fear that's been driven acutely by the Trump administration's anti-transgender policies.

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This is why I am moving back home. 

[Tig58072]

👍

[ChrissyRyan]

Good!

[Lori Dee]

UPDATE: Colorado's new transgender rights law already has a legal challenge
Parents groups argue law will prevent them from referring to transgender people by names those people on longer use
Link to Full Article
The Denver Post - Seth Klamann
May 20, 2025 at 11:39 AM MDT

Four days after it was enacted, Colorado's new law seeking to prevent the misgendering and deadnaming of transgender people is already facing a legal challenge from anti-trans groups that say its provisions violate their First Amendment rights.

Four groups and a Colorado physician filed the lawsuit in Denver's federal court Monday. The suit seeks to invalidate House Bill 1312, which the legislature passed earlier this month and Gov. Jared Polis signed Friday. The groups are asking a judge to rule that an underlying part of the state's anti-discrimination law — prohibiting people from publishing statements that make specific groups of people feel unwelcome — is unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs — Defending Education, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm and dermatologist Travis Morrell — argue the law will unconstitutionally block them from using transgender people's previous names and pronouns. The lawsuit specifically lists a transgender state legislator whom the advocacy network wants to continue describing by an incorrect name without fear of litigation or financial penalties.

The lawsuit was filed against officials from the Colorado Civil Rights Division, which investigates alleged violations of the state's anti-discrimination law, as well as against Attorney General Phil Weiser.

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For those who may not know about our First Amendment rights (including the lawyers involved), the Supreme Court has ruled that free speech is not without its limitations.

As a general rule, limitations on free speech preclude speech that is harmful to others, threatening, or generally repulsive and reviled. Speech that incites imminent lawless action, is obscene, constitutes true threats, or is defamatory is not protected.

An example given was whether or not it was "protected speech" to yell, "FIRE!" in a crowded movie theater. The answer is NO. A big part of the determination is dependent upon the motivation behind the speech.

Intentional misgendering or deadnaming is considered defamatory and therefore is not protected speech.