By Colleen Enos | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
Transparency is not really our current General Assembly’s goal. We would like to believe that our state government works for us, but the majority party in charge is more concerned with covering its own tracks to avoid any repercussions of accountability with the voters.
They also consider any opposing views or opinions to be dissent that must be squashed at all costs, even if it means forcibly gagging their opposition by disallowing all debate. This is not exactly an overflow of reasoned debate, which we would like to encourage amongst our lawmakers.
For example, HB25-1312, Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals, was introduced in the State House on Friday, March 28th, at the end of the day and assigned to the Judiciary Committee.
It was then scheduled on March 31st for a Committee Hearing on April 1st. Yes, that is the next day. As most individuals in opposition either were working, taking care of children, or just did not know, the majority testifying was in favor of the bill.
The sponsors claim they had been working on the bill for a year. When questioned about consulting with parent groups regarding the bill, committee members responded by calling parents “hate groups” and comparing them to the KKK.
The bill was heard in the Committee of the Whole on April 4th, with debate limited to two hours, passed, and heard again on Sunday, April 6th, with no debate allowed.
HB25-1312 is a horrible bill that codifies the terms “misgendering” and “deadnaming” into statute, sets parents up for losing custody if they use their child’s actual name, makes school dress codes non-gender-based, and ignores the religious liberty of all parents.
Paired with it, HB25-1309, Protect Access to Gender-Affirming Health Care, requires health insurance plans to cover gender-affirming care, including hormone blockers, breast removal, and genital mutilation procedures for all, including minors.
Debate was limited on this bill as well, and both are on their way to the Colorado Senate.
Additionally, two more bills were fast-tracked to avoid opposition: They are SB25-129, Legally Protected Health-Care Activity Protections, and SB25-183, Coverage for Pregnancy-Related Services.
SB25-129 blocks Colorado from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into gender or abortion-related procedures and shields doctors from using their names on abortion pill prescriptions. Doctors are also protected from liability for these procedures.
SB25-183 mandates that Coloradans pay for Medicaid abortions because they will save money by “averting births.” Religious convictions do not matter; Coloradans are compelled to pay for those abortions. Both abortion bills are on their way to Governor Polis for his signature.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT CHRISTIAN HOME EDUCATORS OF COLORADO
Colleen Enos is a longtime homeschooling mom of eight, now graduated, and a grandmother of four (soon to be five). Married to her husband Mark for 38 years, she’s spent the last 17 years coaching speech and debate and now serves as the Christian Home Educators of Colorado’s (CHEC) Director of Government Relations, advocating for homeschool freedom at the state legislature. Enos writes a column post twice each month for the CHEC blog. Reach her at [email protected].
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.