Colorado bill penalizing parents for ‘misgendering’ their children advances in legislature
A Colorado bill that would make parents who “misgender” their children guilty of coercive control passed a committee vote in the state legislature on Tuesday.
According to Colorado law, “‘coercive control’ means a pattern of threatening, humiliating, or intimidating actions, including assaults or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten an individual . . . a pattern of behavior that take away the individual's liberty or freedom and strip away the individual's sense of self, including the individual's bodily integrity and human rights.” While it is not a standalone crime, coercive control can be used to enhance a defendant’s sentence. It could also be used against a parent in a custody battle.
A new bill called the “Kelly Loving Act” would consider it coercive control for a parent to “misgender” or “deadname” their child, the Daily Wire has reported. Deadnaming refers to calling someone by their real name even though that person claims to be the opposite gender and has taken on a new name.
“[A] court shall consider deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual’s gender-affirming health-care services as types of coercive control,” the bill reads.
The legislation, which passed the Colorado Assembly’s Judiciary Committee in a 7-4 vote and now advances to the floor for a second reading, would also force schools to be “inclusive” by allowing students to adopt any name they wish and refrain from enforcing gender-based dress codes.
In addition, Colorado courts would be forbidden from enforcing court orders from other states that deny custody to a parent who subjects their child to medical mutilation, also known as “gender-affirming care.”
The bill is part of an aggressive legislative push to force compliance with gender ideology.
Criminalizing ‘misgendering’
In February, Colorado Democrats introduced legislation that would punish medical professionals who “misgender” someone on a death certificate with fines and jail time.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Karen McCormick, state Rep. Kyle Brown, and state Sen. Mike Weissman, would “require an individual who completes a certificate of death to record the decedent's sex to reflect the decedent's gender identity.” Medical examiners, coroners, and forensic pathologists who knowingly record a decedent's biological sex when their “gender identity” is different can be charged as a class 2 misdemeanor, which carries $750 in fines and up to 120 days in jail.
“Apparently modifying birth certificates to replace a person’s ‘sex’ with ‘gender identity’ wasn’t enough,” commented Colin Wright. “Now activists are worried about misgendering the DEAD, and 3 CO Dems have introduced a bill requiring death certificates to reflect a deceased person’s ‘gender identity.’”
Dr. Travis Morrell, a Colorado physician and senior fellow with the nonprofit group Do No Harm, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the bill jeopardizes the integrity of medical data. When public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) aggregate and analyze medical information, it may be tainted with inaccuracies due to the proposed law.
“It’s dangerous and absolutely nuts to threaten doctors with a misdemeanor if they won’t forge a death certificate. But it’s what I’d expect in Colorado,” said Dr. Morrell. “Death certificates aren’t buried when you die,” he added. “They’re evidence in court. They’re data for medical and public health research. Death certificates help doctors predict cancer survival or the deadliness of infectious or environmental agents.
“The CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and scientists around the world use death certificate data.”
The Counseling Censorship Law
Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law (MCTL) forbids licensed counselors from having any conversation with a minor that “attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
Critics have pointed out that the Counseling Censorship Law, as it is widely referred to, would not penalize counselors who steer children toward a different “gender identity” but rather those who help children embrace their biological sex. In effect, it forbids counselors from helping minors overcome gender dysphoria even if that is the express request of the patient or the patient’s parents. Counselors who treat children for dysphoria can lose their license and face fines of up to $5,000.
This summer, the US Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in Chiles v. Salazar, where a counselor is challenging Colorado’s Counseling Censorship Law.
