Democrat Colorado Governor Jared Polis has signed a bill into law that, in its original form, would have allowed for courts to penalize parents in custody battles over the subjects of "deadnaming" as well as "misgendering," but the bill was changed following backlash from parental rights activists.
The legislation, House Bill 1312, originally sought to penalize "deadnaming" as well as "misgendering" as actions akin to discrimination, and would have forced "publishers" to only use someone's "chosen name" in writing if they asked, according to Colorado Politics. Refusing to use their chosen name would be considered an act of discrimination.
Erin Lee, a parents' rights activist who was targeted by the Colorado government when her and her husband did not go along with their 12-year-old's gender identity, spoke out against the bill in its original form in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in April, warning about its consequences if made into law.
Lee, as well as Colorado parent Erin Friday, wrote, "Parents who use a minor child’s legal name—a name that typically requires parental consent to be changed—could be deemed abusive. In custody disputes, the parent who declines to use the child’s chosen name and third-person pronouns—irrespective of age, mental-health status and the consistency of the identity—could be denied custody or even visitation."
State lawmakers struck the provisions from the legislation as there was national backlash against the bill before it was sent to Polis' desk to be signed. The bill in its new form requires that county clerks need to change the names on a marriage certificate when asked and that on the new certificate, there cannot be any indication that it was changed. It also allows for people to change the sex on their driver's license three times instead of just once.
Previously, after someone in Colorado changed their sex on their license, they had to get a court order to change it again. In addition, it allows for students to choose any options within standards set in a dress code at school, allowing trans-identified males to wear skirts to school, for example, if the school requires that girls wear skirts.
Before the bill had the language regarding deadnaming and misgendering removed, parents slammed the legislature over what impact it would have in child custody cases.
Polis announced that he was "not comfortable" with the language parents were protesting that would have mandated courts allow for penalizing parents if they called their own child by their given name instead of a child's chosen name later in life after identifying as transgender.
