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MorningMagazine_2025-05-01 Gabrielle Mendoza
Anti-discrimination act for trans and non-binary individuals passes Senate
After many, many hours of deliberation, a new bill that will expand protections for transgender and gender non-conforming folks across Colorado passed the Senate.
House Bill 1312, also known as the “Kelly Loving Act,” expands anti-discrimination protections for transgender and non-binary individuals. The bill is named after a transgender woman who was shot and killed at the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs in 2022.
The bill increases protections for children in particular, in a number of ways. For one, it prohibits Colorado from complying with out-of-state orders to remove a child from their guardian because that guardian allowed the child to receive gender-affirming health care services. It also amends the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to specifically define deadnaming and misgendering.
State lawmakers have been at odds over the bill, mostly focusing on a section addressing child custody and family law. After hours of testimony, sponsors struck a clause that would have let judges consider misgendering and dead-naming to be forms of abuse when deciding child custody cases.
Lawmakers pass bill that would codify voter protections as state law
In other legislative news – lawmakers passed a bill earlier this week that would codify voter protections into state law.
Senate Bill 25-001 would enshrine protections from the federal Voting Right Act into Colorado state law. This “Colorado Voting Rights Act” would also modify some election-related statutes to make sure voting rights are equitable in local communities and across the states.
The bill addresses a number of statutes, including voter registration related to voters who are members of Native American tribes, election and voting notices in facilities serving those with disabilities, election-related language access, and election-related data collection.
It also adds protections for LGBTQ+ Coloradans, ensuring they won’t be denied access to vote because of their “actual or perceived gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.”
The bill now heads to Governor Jared Polis’ desk.
