A Colorado Democrat likened parent groups to “the KKK” during an hours-long committee hearing for a controversial bill that could see parents accused of “coercive control” in custody fights for using a trans child’s “deadname.”
“I really am curious about how much stakeholdering went on both sides of the issue, and not just one side,” Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell said during the hearing, which began Monday night and ran into early Tuesday. “I’m curious with if the businesses in the community were included in these and if parent groups that are not part of the LGBT community if they were involved.”
Later during the House Judiciary hearing, Democrat state Rep. Yara Zokaie said the committee that night had “heard a lot about stakeholding and who was left out of stakeholding” and that “this process is important for us to understand the implications of the bills that we are passing.”
“But a well-stakeholdered bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups,” Zokaie said. “And we don’t ask someone passing civil rights legislation to go ask the KKK their opinion,” she added as several in the committee room applauded.
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The bill in question, HB25-1312, An Act Concerning Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals, requires courts to consider “deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual’s gender-affirming health-care services as types of coercive control” when making child custody decisions. It passed in a 7-4 vote out of the committee, clearing the first major hurdle to becoming law. It now goes to the Assembly for a second reading.
If the bill passes, it would make Colorado the first state to pass such legislation.
In California, similar legislation was passed in 2023 requiring courts to consider a parent’s affirmation of a child’s chosen gender identity in custody battles. However, liberal Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill.
The Colorado bill, which would create the Kelly Loving Act, named after a transgender man who was killed in the 2022 Colorado nightclub shooting by a nonbinary gunman, also prohibits Colorado courts from enforcing laws from other states that remove children from parents who allow transgender treatments for minors.
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If a child in school wants to go by a different name other than their legal one, the bill says educators must be “inclusive of all reasons that a student might adopt a chosen name.”
“If the individual provides a chosen name that is different from the individual’s legal name, the chosen name must be used on all subsequent forms administered by the public entity,” the bill text summary says.
After the hearing, Caldwell told Fox News Digital in a statement that Zokaie’s reference to certain stakeholders was “deeply concerning” and “reckless.”
“Particularly when it involves labeling parents – the people who care the most about the future of their children – as hate groups,” he said. “Parents who stand up for their children’s education and rights should be respected, not vilified.”
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Zokaie also said during the hearing, “There was a lot of discussion of folks losing their children, and I just want us to note that these are parameters for a judge to consider.”
“The word ‘consider’ is used repeatedly. There are no mandates in this bill,” she said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Zokaie for comment but did not receive a response by publication deadline.
