Something deeply alarming is happening in Colorado — and if it isn’t stopped, your state could be next.
House Bill 25-1312, recently passed by the Colorado House of Representatives, is being hailed by the Left as a “trans rights” bill. But beneath the surface, this legislation is a sweeping attempt to codify compelled speech, override parental rights, and enforce radical gender ideology through the machinery of the state and at every level of public and private life, including inside your own home.
Unbelievably, the bill includes punishment for parents who “misgender” or “deadname” their own children — terms that now carry possible legal consequences in custody battles. Recall the real-life dystopian nightmare of Sage Blair, a young girl who was secretly transitioned and kept from her parents by state officials. Once separated from her family, Sage was trafficked across state lines, drugged, raped, and tortured — a harrowing example of what can result from a grotesque incursion on parental rights.
This isn’t just another misguided bill. It’s a sweeping and lasting assault on parental rights and free speech, with real, devastating consequences. What’s worse, it’s expected to sail through the Colorado Senate and be signed by the governor this year.
If that happens, it will set a dangerous precedent that other progressive legislatures across the nation are poised to follow.
Dubbed the “Kelly Loving Act,” named after a transgender-identifying male tragically killed in a 2022 nightclub shooting, HB 25-1312 is described innocuously as “Concerning Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals.” That sounds reasonable, especially in a state that has already passed protections for gender identity under hate crime and anti-discrimination laws. However, this bill is not about safety. It is about submission and control.
Parents in Colorado could soon be declared unfit for referring to their child by their legal name. Health professionals could face sanctions for maintaining accurate medical records. Employers could be held liable for allowing employees to express constitutionally protected views online. This is not anti-discrimination law. This is government-mandated ideology.
Consider this: Under HB 25-1312, a father who declines to call his 8-year-old son “Charlize” instead of Charlie, because his ex-wife has begun socially transitioning him, could lose custody. The bill categorizes such refusal as “coercive control.” In other words, disagreeing with your child’s social transition could render your home “unsafe” in the eyes of the state.
This is not a local issue. This is a national threat.
Colorado’s bill doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s a direct backlash to recent efforts across the country to restore parental rights, protect children, and re-establish biological reality as a basis for law and policy. And it’s no coincidence that this bill surfaces now, as President Donald Trump and other state leaders work to curb the excesses of radical gender policies in schools and medicine.
It doesn’t matter that half of the states in this country have enacted bans on medical gender transition for minors. It doesn’t matter that courts have long upheld the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children. It doesn’t matter that a majority of people reject radical gender ideology. Colorado lawmakers are attempting to lock in these policies before the political winds shift.
If HB 25-1312 becomes law, it will be used as a model. Activists in California, New York, Illinois, and Washington are watching closely. The language will be copied. The justifications will be recycled. And the consequences — loss of free speech, erosion of parental authority, state-controlled gender transitions — will come to a school, clinic, or courtroom near you.
We cannot afford to ignore what’s happening in Colorado. This is not a fringe bill. It is a prototype. If it passes unchallenged, it will validate a new legal framework that treats disagreement as harm and parenting as possible abuse.
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Every person who values constitutional rights, especially the rights of parents to raise their children without ideological interference, must pay attention. Colorado families are fighting for their most basic freedoms. They shouldn’t have to fight alone.
This bill must be stopped, not just for Colorado, but for the country. Because if the state can take your child for refusing to lie about their sex or given name, then the fight for freedom isn’t just in Colorado. It’s everywhere.
Jessica Hart Steinmann serves as executive general counsel at the America First Policy Institute.
Leigh Ann O’Neill serves as chief of staff and senior legal strategy attorney at the America First Policy Institute’s Center for Litigation.