The Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill Sunday that would remove kids from parents’ custody for behaviors like “misgendering” and “deadnaming” after Democrats cited the Southern Poverty Law Center to justify excluding parental rights groups from discussion on the bill.
The bill, HB 1312, passed with 36 votes in favor, 20 against, and nine absent in a largely party-line vote. One Democrat, Bob Marshall, voted against the bill.
Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie is ecstatic.
So are her other anti-parent, anti-God comrades.
God designed the family consisting of a male father, a female mother, and children from the beginning of time.
Biblical marriage predates civilizations. The responsibility for raising children has always, from Creation, been the reward and responsibility of the parents.
Rather than accepting traditional cultural, biblically based norms, Colorado has now replaced God's plan with the Southern Poverty Law Center's plan.
Be informed, not misled.
Amazon introduces the book with this:
Racial discrimination. Sexual harassment. Offshore accounts. Inflated and biased attacks on “hate.” These are some of the many reasons Americans should mistrust the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Southern Poverty Law Center started with noble intentions and has done much good over the years, but a pernicious corruption has undermined the organization’s original mission and contributed to a climate of fear and hostility in America. Hotels, web platforms, and credit card companies have blacklisted law-abiding Americans because the SPLC disagrees with their political views. The SPLC’s false accusations have done concrete harm, costing the organization millions in lawsuits. A deranged man even attempted to commit mass murder, having been inspired by the SPLC’s rhetoric.
How did a civil rights group dedicated to saving the innocent from the death penalty become a pernicious threat to America’s free speech culture? How did an organization dedicated to fighting poverty wind up with millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands? How did a civil rights stalwart find itself accused of racism and sexism?
And Colorado is following their lead on parental authority.
State Rep. Jarvis Caldwell, a Republican, accused the House Democrats of silencing debate on the issue because they knew their position was unpopular.
“After preventing us from the ability to debate, Colorado House Democrats rammed through HB 1312,” Caldwell told The Daily Signal in a statement Monday. “It’s codifying into law that if their ideology confuses your child, and you don’t affirm that delusion, you’re committing child abuse and can lose custody of your child.”
“We have now crossed the Rubicon of parental rights with this bill,” he added.
Caldwell noted that the Democrat majority invoked Rule 16, which calls the question and ends debate, leading to a vote. “I believe they did this to silence us because they know how much negative attention this has been getting nationwide,” he said in a video message Sunday.
Comparing Parents to the KKK
When Caldwell asked whether “parent groups that are not part of the LGBT community” were involved in discussing the bill, Zokaie ridiculed the idea.
“A well-stakeholded bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups, and we don’t ask someone passing civil rights legislation to go ask the KKK their opinion,” she quipped.
She doubled down on the comparison on Friday, explicitly citing the Southern Poverty Law Center. Critics claim the SPLC has used its history in suing Klan groups into bankruptcy to demonize mainstream conservative and Christian organizations. The SPLC puts out a “hate map” that plots religious freedom law firms like Alliance Defending Freedom and parental rights groups like Moms for Liberty alongside Klan chapters. The “hate map” has inspired an act of domestic terrorism.
Tyler O'Neil wrote, "A Democrat member of the Colorado House of Representatives doubled down on previous remarks defending her excluding parental rights groups from discussions about a bill that would remove kids from parents’ custody for behaviors like 'misgendering' and 'deadnaming. '”
While witnesses in a hearing on House Bill 1312 said they had been working on the legislation for over a year, Jarvis Caldwell, a Republican member of the state House of Representatives, said that he only heard about it Monday.
He said, “I really am curious about how much stakeholdering went on both sides of the issue and if parent groups that are not part of the LGBT community, if they were involved."
State Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Democrat, loudly condemned the idea of strategizing with parental rights groups on the bill.
Another Democrat, state Rep. Javier Mabrey, said, “There’s no reason to go to the table with people who are echoing the hateful rhetoric going around about the trans community.”
What this bill does.
According to the bill summary, HB 1312 defines “coercive control” as including “deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual’s gender-affirming health care services.”
“A court shall consider reports of coercive control when determining the allocation of parental responsibilities in accordance with the best interests of the child,” the summary adds.
These provisions would effectively require parents to endorse gender ideology in order to maintain custody of their own children in a dispute. Gender ideology teaches that a person’s internal sense of gender overrides his or her biological sex.
What is "deadnaming" and "Misgendering?"
Deadnaming” involves referring to an individual who claims to be transgender by the name that person has rejected. “Misgendering” involves referring to a person who claims to be transgender with the pronouns associated with their biological sex rather than their preferred pronouns. “Gender-affirming health care” is a euphemism for experimental medical interventions designed to make a man appear female or vice versa.
Supporters frame the bill as an attempt to prevent anti-transgender discrimination.
“This bill is about ensuring that what we say exists with anti-discrimination is a reality for those who truly live life every day in fear of being discriminating against, retaliated against, harmed, harassed,” state Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, told The Denver Post.
What's Next? Has Colorado crossed the Rubicon?
HB 1312 will go to the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee. If it proceeds out of committee, it will go to the state Senate, which has a 23-12 Democrat majority.
The state senate will likely approve it.
Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, generally supports transgender orthodoxy. He will likely sign it.
Colorado will have crossed the Rubicon. They will have given away their children.
Takeaway
Heritage Action, a grassroots lobbying group affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, opposes the bill.
“This legislation seeks to impose radical gender ideology on Colorado families by penalizing parents for ‘misgendering’ or ‘deadnaming’ their children in custody disputes, effectively weaponing the state against parents who prioritize biological reality and constitutional rights over compelled speech,” Kristen Christensen, Heritage Action’s Colorado state director, told The Daily Signal. “It erodes local control by mandating schools abandon gender-based dress codes and forcing businesses to comply with subjective identity demands under the threat of fines.”
“This bill is an open assault on parents’ rights and free speech,” Christensen added.
This is why Christians must remain vigilant and engaged. Any Blue state is capable of these actions.
Be informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.