By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice
Proponents hail the bill as a civil rights milestone for transgender youth. But Republicans say it strips parental rights, embeds compelled speech into law and threatens custody in future court cases.
After weeks of public backlash, failed compromise efforts, and a marathon Senate floor debate, Colorado lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to HB25-1312 – a bill that critics say severs parents from decisions about their children’s identities in school.
The bill passed its final Senate vote on Tuesday with no additional debate or amendments. The House voted to concur with all Senate amendments and repassed the bill without further changes, sending it to Governor Jared Polis.
The final version no longer includes the family court and out-of-state recognition provisions that triggered early backlash. Section 4 remains intact, allowing schools to recognize student-chosen names without informing parents – as long as the same rule applies to all students.
That provision became the focal point of more than eight hours of Senate floor debate Monday night, capping off weeks of outcry from across the state.
“I’ve been through a custody case. A bruise on a child’s hip was used against me,” said Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer. “Under this bill, calling your child by their birth name could be used against you in court. That’s terrifying.”
“Parents are the first and basic educators of their children,” she added. “Schools are supposed to add value to education – not infringe upon it.”
Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen called the bill “an affront” to families.
“This bill wants to disconnect the children from their parents,” Lundeen said. “When you take away that best support mechanism, you leave children alone.”
Sen. Rod Pelton read an email from a faith-based constituent who called the legislation “an attack on parental rights and a threat to the family structure as God designed it.”
In the House, Rep. Jarvis Caldwell said the debate had never been about animosity.
“I gave my children their names,” Caldwell said in a floor speech shared online. “Who are any of you to tell me that my child can go to school and change their name without my even knowledge?”
“We are sick and tired of it,” he continued. “It’s not about hate. It’s about love – the love I have for my kids.”
“God willing, my kids will be by my side as I lay on my deathbed & take my last breaths on this Earth. NONE of you will be! YOU don’t care more about my kids than ME.”
— Rep. Jarvis Caldwell (@RepCaldwell) May 7, 2025
We fought HB25-1312, Colorado. Silenced every step of the way. It’s in @GovofCO hands now. #copolitics #coleg pic.twitter.com/H8NvgrcIHB
Democratic sponsor Sen. Faith Winter defended the bill’s chosen name provision, saying it protects transgender students from being forcibly outed in unsafe homes.
“Any school can set any policy under this bill,” Winter said. “It just can’t be different for transgender children.”
Republican lawmakers, however, argued that parental notification is a neutral standard – one already expected in almost every other area of public education.
“You need parental permission for a field trip or a football team,” said Sen. John Carson. “But not to change your name in the school record? That just doesn’t make sense.”
Amendments that would have added parental consent or removed Section 4 altogether were all rejected along party lines. Those included:
- L022 – would have removed the section allowing schools to adopt chosen name policies without informing parents
- L034 – would have required a signed statement from a parent or guardian before a student’s chosen name could be used in school records
- L037 – would have removed language adding chosen names and gender expression to Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws
- L019 – would have carved out protections for religious institutions, such as schools or shelters, so they wouldn’t face discrimination claims under the bill
During the Monday night floor debate, Sen. Lisa Frizell called the final version of the bill “a missed opportunity to meet parents halfway.”
“The relationship between a child and their parent is not the school’s, and it’s not the state’s,” Frizell said. “The school should not be getting between them.”
In her closing remarks, Kirkmeyer warned that the process had left too many parents feeling dismissed. “We are still not there yet,” she said. “Not when parents are the last to know.”
Opponents say the public’s objections to HB1312 went far beyond political disagreement.
Lundeen described the public response to HB1312 as the most constituent-engaged issue he had seen in his 11 years in the Capitol.
On April 30, John Graboski, a resident from Larkspur, emailed every Republican lawmaker in the state. He called HB1312 “a Satanic deviant ideology” and warned that God-fearing citizens would refuse to follow “unconstitutional, wrong, Satanic evil laws.”
“There are tens of thousands of us in this state who have had it with this kind of legislative idiocy,” Graboski wrote. “Don’t be surprised to see a righteous civil disobedience emerge.”
The Senate gave final passage to the bill on Tuesday in a 23–12 vote, with all Republicans and two Democrats – Sen. Kyle Mullica and Sen. Marc Snyder – voting no.
The bill now awaits Governor Polis’s signature. If signed into law, it will take effect immediately.