By Tiffany Justice | The Daily Caller
No parent should ever be forced to enable harm to their child. It’s a primal instinct—to shield, to nurture, to guide our kids through life’s storms. Yet, Colorado is charging toward a law that turns this instinct upside down, branding it abusive for parents to question their child’s desire to “change their gender.”
This isn’t a minor policy tweak; it’s a full-frontal assault on parental rights, propped up by the flimsy facade of “gender-affirming care”—a practice I see as abuse cloaked in compassion.
The legislation at the heart of this, HB25-1312, cleared the Colorado House in early 2025 and is winding through the Senate as of April. Its supporters pitch it as a shield for transgender individuals, but peel back the rhetoric, and the real target emerges: parents who refuse to bow to an ideology that rushes kids into irreversible choices.
The bill’s text is unambiguous—using a child’s birth name or biological pronouns (“deadnaming” or “misgendering”) can now be deemed “coercive control,” a legal synonym for abuse. Refuse to endorse your child’s wish to transition? That stance could tip the scales against you in a custody fight. Stand firm in your beliefs, and you might lose your kid entirely.
The implications are chilling. “Gender-affirming care” sounds warm and fuzzy—until you unpack it. Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, even surgeries—are dangled before children too young to vote, drive, or fathom the lifelong fallout.
Decades of research, including studies showing 80% or more of kids with gender dysphoria reconcile with their biological sex after puberty, suggest caution, not haste. Yet Colorado’s bill brooks no such nuance. It demands affirmation over investigation, punishing parents who opt for patience instead of pills. To me, flooding a child’s body with experimental drugs or carving it up isn’t care—it’s harm, pure and simple.