Colorado’s laws put parents on the sidelines — and kids at risk

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Colorado politicians have been busy passing laws that put government between parents and kids. From mental health and gender identity to abortion and what’s taught in the classroom, the message is clear — parents don’t get a say. Families across our state are raising the alarm, sharing stories of confusion, heartbreak, and harm. 

It’s time we take a hard look at what these laws are doing to our children.

Mental health without parents

HB19-1120 opened a door most parents didn’t know existed. Kids 12 and up can start therapy without a parent’s consent and often without a heads-up. Picture a seventh grader talking through depression or identity questions while mom and dad are kept out until there’s a crisis.

The only guaranteed notification is for imminent danger. Providers may notify parents if, in their professional judgment, the child can’t manage care. Otherwise, parents can be sidelined.

Supporters claim this empowers kids who might feel unsafe at home. But treating every home like a hazard sign just puts plywood over trust — and shuts parents out.

Imagine discovering months later that your child has been navigating life-changing issues in secret. Leave parents out and problems get bigger.

Lawmakers didn’t stop there. HB23-1003 built a mental health screening program for schools covering grades 6 through 12. Schools can opt in, and parents can technically opt out at the beginning of the year, but that’s where their control ends. 

When notice lags past the 48-hour rule, normal ups and downs get labeled and kids are routed into services before parents weigh in.

Families worry this blurs the line between normal adolescent struggles and clinical diagnoses, funneling kids toward interventions before parents are even aware.

Gender identity laws that override families

Gender identity has become another flashpoint. HB24-1039 forces schools to use whatever name or identity a student picks in school and during extracurricular activities — no matter what parents say. 

Teachers risk being labeled “discriminatory” if they don’t comply. This law hands schools more power than families and pressures kids to make adult choices before they’re ready. Parents are cut out again.

In youth services facilities, HB24-1170 expanded rights for minors, including protections around gender identity, including access to gender-affirming care. 

And the “Kelly Loving Act,” HB25-1312, goes even further. It removes the one-time cap for birth-certificate gender changes, raises driver’s license/ID changes to three without a court order, and defines ‘chosen name’ under Colorado’s anti-discrimination law.”

This shifts cultural norms through law, not just policy, and critics worry it compels speech in schools, businesses, and even faith communities.

HB25-1309 adds another layer, requiring insurance coverage for gender-affirming care while removing testosterone from monitoring programs. Parents fear this makes powerful hormones easier for minors to access without oversight. 

The research says many children’s dysphoria settles with age. Colorado leans on affirmation first, nudging kids toward choices that last a lifetime.

The long-term risks — infertility, bone density loss, irreversible surgeries — are not theoretical. Other countries, including Sweden, Finland, and the UK, have begun rolling back similar policies after seeing the damage. Colorado, however, is rushing headlong down this path.

Abortion and reproductive rights

Colorado has also positioned itself as a “sanctuary state” for abortion and gender procedures. SB23-188 protects providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions for care that’s legal here. 

Put taxpayer dollars behind it and you supercharge a process that sidesteps parents and risks pushing kids toward choices they can’t take back. 

Classrooms as battlegrounds

Education hasn’t been spared. HB19-1032 mandates “comprehensive” sexuality education that covers consent and LGBTQ issues, while explicitly banning abstinence-only approaches. 

HB19-1192 requires Colorado’s social studies standards to include minority and LGBTQ histories. After the law passed, the State Board of Education got to decide what shows up in which grades. In 2022, the Board’s draft yanked LGBTQ references out of kindergarten through third grade after parents spoke out. 

Then, just months later, the Board flipped, voting 4–3 to put many of those references back in. The latest guidance says early-grade lessons might include examples like families with same-sex parents.

HB19-1129 prohibits licensed mental-health providers from practicing “conversion therapy” on minors — defined as efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity. Exploring feelings is allowed. Setting a therapeutic goal of returning a child to birth sex is not. 

Parents see this as effectively creating an “affirmation-only” environment.

Policymakers call it progress. In classrooms, it looks like early exposure to adult topics with thin opt-out options. Teachers carry the burden. Students sit in the crossfire instead of building fundamentals. Families who push back get sidelined fast — while being told their values don’t belong in the classroom.

A bigger pattern

Put together, these laws show a clear trend: government taking on the role of parent. Whether it’s mental health, gender identity, abortion, or education, the pattern is the same. Families are left out. Parents are dismissed. And kids are placed in the middle of policies that can cause lifelong harm.

Colorado families are not imagining the fallout. I’ve heard story after story of children pulled away from their parents by laws that treat moms and dads as the problem instead of the solution. 

Parents have found themselves blindsided by choices their children made under pressure — choices that carry permanent consequences.

Time to fight back

Colorado parents know better than any politician. We love our kids. We protect them. We guide them through life’s hardest decisions. 

Government can’t replace that. Yet lawmakers keep trying, shifting more control to bureaucrats, activists, and special interests who don’t carry the weight of raising these kids day to day.

This is not a partisan issue. It’s a parental rights issue. And if parents don’t stand up now, we risk losing more than our say in the classroom or the doctor’s office. 

Let’s tackle the risk of losing a generation to confusion, isolation and politics that place politics over family bands with a victory mindset. 

Leaders listen to who shows up. Be there at school board and county meetings today, and at the Capitol when it’s back in session. Colorado children belong to their families — not the state.

Heidi Ganahl is an entrepreneur, policy advocate and prominent conservative leader in Colorado. She is a board member of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC), where she champions free-market and community-driven environmental solutions. Ganahl is also the founder and president of Rocky Mountain Voice, a center-right media platform, and previously launched Camp Bow Wow—now North America’s leading pet-care franchise. A University of Colorado Regent from 2017 to 2023 and the 2022 Republican nominee for governor, she also founded SheFactor and the Fight Back Foundation, and hosts the “Unleashed with Heidi” podcast, where she promotes liberty, accountability and grassroots leadership.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.