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Colorado Lawmakers Open Door To Unlimited Conversion Therapy Lawsuits After Supreme Court Ruling
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Open Door To Unlimited Conversion Therapy Lawsuits After Supreme Court Ruling

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–Despite the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently slapping down Colorado’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy,” legislative Democrats are taking yet another swing at influencing conversations mental health professionals have with clients around gender indentity. This time around, it’s the threat of lawsuits at any time in the future, and with no limit on potential damages. As previously reported by Complete Colorado, SCOTUS in March struck down a 2019 statute barring state licensed therapists from engaging in “efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction”  The court held t...
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High Court Strikes Down Colorado Therapy Law in 8-1 Free Speech Ruling
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The Daily Signal, Approved, State

High Court Strikes Down Colorado Therapy Law in 8-1 Free Speech Ruling

By Fred Lucas | The Daily Signal The Supreme Court held in an 8-1 ruling on Tuesday that a Colorado ban on “conversion therapy” for counselors unlawfully regulates speech and is viewpoint discrimination.  Justice Neil Gorsuch, a President Donald Trump appointee, issued the majority opinion. Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor—both appointees of President Barack Obama—issued concurring opinions.  Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—an appointee of President Joe Biden—dissented.  The Chiles v. Salazar case involved a challenge to a Colorado law that allows licensed counselors to address issues of sexuality and gender only from the state’s approved perspective.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DAILY SIGNAL
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How a Garfield County dispute turned into a court-ordered separation
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

How a Garfield County dispute turned into a court-ordered separation

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Heather Fitzke’s story offers a look at how quickly a family dispute can move from home into the courtroom—and how outside involvement, public statements and court filings can reshape parental authority in ways many families may not expect. That side of the case is laid out in Part 2. Heather Fitzke says what happened to her family didn’t start in a courtroom. But that’s where it changed everything. She expected to defend herself, and she also ended up arguing with a judge about pronouns.  That moment came during a seven-hour hearing on Sept. 10 that would change the course of her family. Fitzke said that hearing came after she had already lost custody of her child through a separate guardianship decision. On Sept. 10, the judge ru...
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Colorado’s Ideological Regime Doubles Down
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FAIR Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Ideological Regime Doubles Down

By Laureen Boll | Commentary, FAIR Colorado HB26-1322 is a weaponized end-run around the Constitution The Supreme Court’s October 2025 oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar exposed Colorado’s conversion-therapy ban for what it is: raw viewpoint discrimination dressed up as “child protection.” Conservative justices grilled the state on why a licensed counselor could affirm a minor’s gender identity or homosexuality but face professional ruin for exploring the opposite — neutral talk therapy aligned with a family’s faith or biology. The writing is on the wall, as the majority seems ready to apply strict scrutiny and likely strike down the ban as unconstitutional professional speech regulation. Colorado’s Democrat-majority legislature refuses to accept the likely verdict of ...
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Jeffco Schools Reject Federal Ruling On Transgender Sports Policies
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Axios Denver, Approved, Local

Jeffco Schools Reject Federal Ruling On Transgender Sports Policies

By John Frank | Axios Denver Jefferson County Schools is rebuking the Trump administration's claim that the district violated federal civil rights protections by allowing transgender students to compete in girls' sports and access their facilities. Why it matters: The clash between the Trump administration and Colorado's second-largest school district highlights the widening national debate over how federal civil rights law applies to transgender students. The dispute could also lead to a legal showdown over the interaction of federal policy, which defines sex based on biology, and state laws that protect gender identity and transgender students' rights. What they're saying: Jeffco officials said in a statement that the administration's legal arguments...
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Supreme Court Sides With Parents In California Gender Identity Secrecy Fight
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The Daily Signal, Approved, National

Supreme Court Sides With Parents In California Gender Identity Secrecy Fight

By Tyler O'Neil | The Daily Signal The Supreme Court Monday vindicated parental rights, upholding an injunction against California’s gender secrecy policy, which mandated that school staff hide a student’s claimed transgender identity from parents unless the student expressly consented to reveal it. “This is a watershed moment for parental rights in America,” Paul Jonna, special counsel at the Thomas More Society, said in a statement responding to the decision Monday. “The Supreme Court has told California and every state in the nation in no uncertain terms: you cannot secretly transition a child behind a parent’s back.” “The court’s landmark reaffirmation of substantive due process, its vindication of religious liberty, and its approval of class-wide re...
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Vermont Drops Requirement To Affirm Gender Identity For Foster License Approval
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Just The News, Approved, National

Vermont Drops Requirement To Affirm Gender Identity For Foster License Approval

By Greg Piper | Just the News Vermont settles two lawsuits before appeals court can strike down policy conditioning foster placements, renewals on affirming gender ideology. "We must ban" removals and transitions against parents' will "immediately," Trump says. Solidly Democratic states are coming to the realization that excluding foster-care applicants based on their refusal to treat children as the opposite sex may not be a wise choice.   Vermont gave up its policy of scrutinizing would-be and current foster parents' religious beliefs for inconsistency with gender ideology to settle two First Amendment lawsuits before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could rule, issuing sweeping new guidance last week that protects applicants from violating their conscien...
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Colorado Democrats Strike Identity Clause From Family Court Bill After Backlash
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Strike Identity Clause From Family Court Bill After Backlash

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette The sponsors of a proposal that would require suppression of records in name-change petitions for minors removed a provision that would have mandated the courts to factor in the issue of “identity” when allocating parenting time. In its original form, Senate Bill 018, included a requirement that family courts consider whether parents recognize their child’s identity “as it relates to a protected class” when determining parenting time decision-making responsibility. The protected classes in Colorado include gender identity and gender expression. A similar provision was amended out of last year’s House Bill 1312, which was ultimately signed into law. In that bill, the courts would have been required to consider “...
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Supreme Court Petition Targets Washington Law Allowing Gender Treatments Without Parental Consent
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Just The News, Approved, National

Supreme Court Petition Targets Washington Law Allowing Gender Treatments Without Parental Consent

By Greg Piper | Just the News SCOTUS must heed three justices' warnings that lower courts are avoiding "contentious constitutional questions" on parental rights in state-facilitated gender transitions by denying legal standing, wide coalition says. When runaway minors ask for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical interventions to resemble the opposite sex, Washington state not only refers them for potentially irreversible treatment but also does not require parental notification and consent, hides their "location and condition" and unilaterally decides "reunification" conditions, a lawsuit alleges. According to the historically overturned 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, parents cannot challenge the Evergreen State's laws in court bec...
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Colorado’s quiet revival: A custody provision lawmakers stripped is back in SB26-018
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s quiet revival: A custody provision lawmakers stripped is back in SB26-018

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice When Colorado lawmakers removed custody language from a transgender-related bill in 2025, the fight appeared to cool — or at least move out of view. It didn’t last. Jan. 14 marked the formal introduction of Senate Bill 26-018, backed in the Senate by Katie Wallace and Chris Kolker and carried in the House by Meg Froelich and Lorena García. No Republicans signed on. The bill was assigned to Senate Judiciary, chaired by sponsor Chris Kolker. Lead sponsor Katie Wallace has emphasized education and family policy in discussing the measure, drawing on her background on the Jefferson County School Board. The proposal revives a custody standard lawmakers stripped from a similar bill last session after pub...
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