{"id":2089,"date":"2025-04-12T16:03:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/?p=2089"},"modified":"2025-04-12T16:03:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T16:03:18","slug":"colorado-bill-could-strip-parents-of-custody-for-misgendering-their-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/2025\/04\/12\/colorado-bill-could-strip-parents-of-custody-for-misgendering-their-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado bill could strip parents of custody for misgendering their children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.deseret.com\/resizer\/v2\/SVLDS57M2RHS5KQOEZ6TLMG7CA.JPG?ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/authors\/eva-terry\/\">Eva Terry<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KEY POINTS<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Colorado&#8217;s Kelly Loving Act could allow the state to revoke custody from parents who misgender their children by defining it as &#8216;coercive control.&#8217;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The bill has passed the Colorado House and is now headed to the Democrat-majority Senate before potentially reaching Gov. Jared Polis&#8217; desk.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Similar legislation in Canada has resulted in severe penalties, including imprisonment for a father who misgendered his daughter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A bill in Colorado is making its way through the state legislature that would create legal grounds for the state to revoke custody of parents who misgender their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bill is called <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/bills\/hb25-1312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Kelly Loving Act<\/a>, named after a 40-year-old transgender man killed in the Club Q mass shooting in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its text states that \u201cdeadnaming, misgendering or threatening to publish material related to an individual\u2019s gender-affirming health-care services\u201d will be deemed \u201ccoercive control\u201d and will influence the court \u201cwhen making child custody decisions and determining the best interests of a child for purposes of parenting time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If a child\u2019s parents are split between Colorado and another state, the bill adds that Colorado courts shall not enforce the other state\u2019s laws if they attempt to take the child away from the parent who is providing the child with \u201cgender-affirming care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In short, if parents call their child by the wrong name or fail to use their preferred pronouns, they could be liable to lose custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/u-s-world\/2024\/12\/31\/prison-washington-transgender-inmate-woman-sues\/\">Woman sues Washington DOC for putting her in a cell with a transgender inmate who allegedly assaulted her<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"How-has-similar-legislation-played-out-elsewhere\">How has similar legislation played out elsewhere<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canada pioneered this type of legislation before the U.S., and one notable case resulted in a father\u2019s six-month prison sentence and a $30,000 fine for misgendering his teenage daughter, as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/news\/bc-father-wins-appeal-over-breaching-privacy-of-transgender-child\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the National Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The man, who chose to remain anonymous, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/realDailyWire\/status\/1644515687715438592?lang=ar-x-fm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">discussed<\/a> his situation with political podcaster Matt Walsh in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s considered criminal violence to not use the preferred pronouns,\u201d the man explained. \u201cIt\u2019s no different, let\u2019s say, than if I were to take a broomstick and whack one of my kids over the head. So they were treating it in a similar fashion that misgendering, mispronouning my child was the equivalent of family violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More recently in 2024, California passed <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1955\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Assembly Bill 1955<\/a>, prohibiting school districts from adopting policies that require teachers or administrators to tell anyone, including parents, when a student changes their gender identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president of the California Family Council, Jonathan Keller, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.californiafamily.org\/2024\/07\/newsom-signs-parental-secrecy-bill-endangering-child-safety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called the new law<\/a> \u201ca direct assault on the safety of children and the rights of their parents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBy allowing schools to withhold vital information from mothers and fathers, this bill undermines their fundamental role and places boys and girls in potential jeopardy,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/politics\/2025\/01\/30\/hb269-update-utah-state-legislature-2025\/\">A bill on housing for transgender students passes Utah Senate committee<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Where-is-the-CO-bill-in-the-legislative-process\">Where is the CO bill in the legislative process?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On April 2, Colorado\u2019s Kelly Loving Act passed out of the state\u2019s House Judiciary Committee, with the vote falling along party lines, 7-4. On Sunday, the bill passed in the state House and is headed to the Colorado Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, Democrats hold a 23-12 majority, and if it clears it will move to be signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">105<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comments<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Colin Wright, the academic adviser for the Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/article\/colorado-kelly-loving-act-child-gender-pronouns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">believes Polis is likely to sign<\/a> the legislation into law based on previous bills he\u2019s pushed through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/utah\/2024\/07\/12\/matthew-mcconaughey-national-governors-association-meeting-spencer-cox\/\">Matthew McConaughey joins Govs. Cox, Polis to discuss \u2018Disagree Better\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2019, Polis signed <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/bills\/hb19-1039\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HB19-1039<\/a>, which simplified the process to update the gender marker on birth certificates without requiring surgical transition, a court order or a doctor\u2019s note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same year, Polis also signed <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/bills\/hb19-1129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HB19-1129<\/a>, which prohibited state-licensed mental health care providers from engaging in conversion therapy practices with minors. Conversion therapy aims to change a person\u2019s orientation or gender identity from gay or transgender to straight or cisgender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/conversion-therapy-an-evidence-assessment-and-qualitative-study\/conversion-therapy-an-evidence-assessment-and-qualitative-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">British Department of Equality, Rights and Citizenship<\/a> defined conversion therapy as \u201cany efforts to change, modify or suppress a person\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity regardless of whether it takes place in a health care, religious or other setting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Eva Terry KEY POINTS A bill in Colorado is making its way through the state legislature that would create legal grounds for the state to revoke custody of parents who misgender their children. The bill is called the Kelly&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2090,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089\/revisions\/2090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}