If your child is named “Karen” but wants to be called “John,” you could lose custody of your child in Colorado if House Bill 1312 passes the Senate and gets signed by Governor Jared Polis, as seems likely.
The bill was passed with no debate on Sunday night, Democrats having called the question on the bill before debate began, depriving anybody from objecting to the bill and arguing against it.
1/ The bill (HB 1312) passed 36-20. Here’s the INSANE part: Parents could lose custody for “misgendering” or using their own child’s birth name. YES, REALLY. pic.twitter.com/RtzFbyUKfW
— Rod D. Martin (@RodDMartin) April 7, 2025
Democrats justified this abuse of power by arguing that opponents of the bill were members of a hate group–comparing them to the KKK–and didn’t deserve to have their arguments heard on the floor of the House.
Zokaie had first compared parents groups to the KKK in a hearing on Tuesday.
She attempted to explain why parental rights groups had been excluded from discussions on HB 1312, the bill in question.
“A well-stakeholded bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups, and we… pic.twitter.com/K2WfFGfw9Q
— Tyler O’Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) April 5, 2025
Yes, they said that. Basically, the argument is circular: if you are an “ally,” then you support “Civil Rights,” and if you are opposed to the argument that parents who are not “affirming” of a delusion that almost all gender nonconforming children grow out of, you are equivalent to a white supremacist.
4/ It gets WORSE: This bill creates a system where one parent can weaponize the courts against the other for not “affirming” gender ideology.
Think about that for a second. Awfully easy way to win a nasty custody fight… pic.twitter.com/ZXd2Nu662q
— Rod D. Martin (@RodDMartin) April 7, 2025
The claim that this bill is anodyne protection of trans children from bullying is, of course, insane. It strips parents of their rights unless they affirm their 8-year-old’s desire to go on puberty blockers and classifies using a “deadname” as child abuse. Literally calling your child by their name can make you lose the right to raise your child.
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.
“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.
6/ REMEMBER: California dad Jeff Younger? Lost rights to stop ex-wife from transitioning his son. This will become COMMON in Colorado if this passes. pic.twitter.com/7AgapqDGKy
— Rod D. Martin (@RodDMartin) April 7, 2025
This is not some far-out notional fear; it is already happening in some Blue states, which even ignore court orders when a non-custodial parent kidnaps their child from a different state and takes them to a “sanctuary.”
Here are my thoughts on what transpired today with being silenced and robbed of speaking on behalf of my 90,000 House District 20 constituents about HB25-1312. #coleg #copolitics pic.twitter.com/hsLMwkVoaR
— Rep. Jarvis Caldwell (@RepCaldwell) April 6, 2025
When I talk to liberals about this, they display amazing cognitive dissonance. First, they claim it isn’t happening. When you show them it is, they revert to, “Well, it is rare,” so it must be all right. Then you eventually get to the universal “Yes, it is happening, but all the right people say it is good.” This often happens within a single conversation.
What’s so frustrating is the utter lack of curiosity about reality; it all boils down to something incredibly simple: they trust the people who lie to them and hate the people telling them the truth.
At some point, this insanity will break even in Blue states as the reality of the horrors of what is being done settles in.
That’s when we get to the final point of insanity: “We had good intentions.”
That doesn’t wash because we told you so. The evidence was before your eyes. You chose to ignore it because, well, it was uncomfortable to agree with the other team.
That is no excuse.
