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Four groups that oppose transgender rights sued Colorado on Monday over a new law that enshrines additional protections for transgender people in the state’s anti-discrimination law.
The federal lawsuit argues that the law’s requirements that schools and other entities use a transgender person’s chosen name and pronouns violates the First Amendment of the Constitution by forcing some speakers to say things they find objectionable.
The lawsuit is the second one this month to target Colorado’s protections for transgender people, following the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to eliminate such protections in schools and elsewhere. On May 9, a conservative-leaning Colorado Springs-area school district sued the state, arguing that Colorado’s anti-discrimination law violates students’ constitutional rights by allowing transgender youth to play on school sports teams that match their gender identity.
Both lawsuits have implications for how schools treat transgender students, from the names they are called in class to the sports teams they can try out for after school.
Monday’s lawsuit takes aim at House Bill 1312, which was signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Friday. The measure, which will impact school dress code, name change, and bullying policies, as well as rules for birth certificates and marriage licenses, represented a win for supporters of transgender rights. But now it appears parts of the law could be tied up in court for months or years.
The plaintiffs in the case include the Virginia-based conservative group Defending Education, which has challenged race-based initiatives and the teaching of issues related to race and gender in schools. Other plaintiffs include Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, a health group called Do No Harm, and Travis Morrell, a Colorado dermatologist. They are represented by the Arlington, Virginia law firm Consovoy McCarthy.
The defendants in the case include Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and the members of Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission, a group tasked with investigating alleged violations of the state’s anti-discrimination law.
Monday’s lawsuit argues that Colorado’s new law “punishes those who refuse to speak using chosen names and pronouns, and it does so in order to suppress traditional beliefs about sex and gender.”
Lawmakers who supported the legislation said it was about ensuring transgender people can make decisions that affirm their identities, as well as protecting them from discrimination.
Chris Kolker, a Democrat and cosponsor of the bill, said during a recent hearing, “I ask us not to get lost in a fog of fear. Let’s return to what this is about — keeping kids safe, preventing bullying, and ensuring our public systems reflect the dignity of all people.”
In the lawsuit, Defending Education said it “regularly litigates on behalf of its members to protect their First Amendment right to refer to individuals using biologically accurate pronouns and/or birth names.”
Referring to transgender people by their birth name instead of their chosen name is called deadnaming, and using pronouns other than a person’s preferred pronouns is called misgendering.
The lawsuit describes various types of speech that the new Colorado law could restrict and that plaintiffs want to continue using. For example, it notes that members of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, one of the plaintiffs, have called Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democratic state representative, “Brian Titone.” The group’s members have also said Dylan Mulvaney, a popular transgender social media influencer, “is a man pretending to be a woman. ‘She’ is actually a ‘he’ and does not know the experience of American girls.”
The law would make it impossible for the group to “effectively exercise their constitutionally protected right to speak in a manner that reflects their sincere belief that sex is immutable and fixed at birth,” the lawsuit states.
Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.
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