Colorado House advances bill mandating schools use transgender students' preferred name

The Colorado state legislature advanced a bill on Friday aimed at mandating K-12 schools statewide to implement policies requiring educators to address transgender students by their preferred name in all school settings – including in records and documents – independent of parental approval or a formal legal name change. 

The bill will need one more round of voting before advancing to the Senate floor.

House Bill 1039 — a bill largely backed by the progressive group Colorado Youth Advisory Council — would also impact charter schools and mandates that educators use students' non-legal names in all school-related functions, including extracurricular activities, rosters, attendance lists, yearbooks and student ID cards.

In its proposal to lawmakers, the youth council said many "school administrative systems cause humiliation for transgender Colorado youth when schools use the students’ deadnames (birth names that do not align with their gender identities)."

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Protesters of Kentucky Senate Bill SB150, known as the Transgender Health Bill, cheer on speakers during a rally on the lawn of the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

"When schools keep a student’s former name and gender marker on school transcripts and records, it outs transgender students to their peers, thereby violating their privacy," the group wrote prior to the legislature's vote.

One Colorado, a progressive LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, also supports the bill, alongside the Colorado School Counselors Association.

The bill would also deem that "intentional use of a name other than a student's chosen name is discriminatory."

State Rep. Anthony Hartsook, a Republican, called the bill "open-ended and ill-defined" that could lead to "many, many paths."

"We open up Pandora's Box for discernment on what is discriminatory and what is not, what is intentional and what is not," Hatsook said on the House floor. "Who starts deciding that when and where do we start deciding that? When and where do we bring the parents into that discussion?"

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A person holds up the transgender flag. (Adobe Stock)

Republican State Rep. Brandi Bradley agreed with Hartsook and urged colleagues to vote "no" on the legislation.

"And now we have told the teachers that they're being discriminatory," Bradley said of the bill. "I have four teenagers. They are awesome kids, but sometimes they like to play games. So tell me how codifying or putting this bill in is not going to go against teachers and their rights in a field where we already have so much shortage?"

Republican State Rep. Rose Pugliese added she does not want schools to know more about her kids than she does. 

"Parents have the right to know," said Pugliese. 

Other Republican lawmakers argued students would be allowed to change their names more than once, furthering burdening teachers to remember their new names. 

Meanwhile, State Rep. Stephanie Vigil, a Colorado Springs Democrat co-sponsoring the bill, contended that some transgender kids who may not have come out to their parents yet would be in danger if the legislation is not approved. On the other hand, parents who support their transgender children would also have their parental rights usurped if they approve of the name change. 

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(Colorado House Bill 1039 has one more round of voting before moving to the Senate floor.)

"And so I would just suggest to you all as we talk through this bill today that we bear in mind that there is such a thing as a kid who's not safe with their own parents," said Vigil. "Certainly, kids belong with their parents – that relationship is precious. But I do not accept the premise that a child is anyone's property or that their safety isn't to be prioritized, even when the person who is a danger to them is their own parents."

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The bill was also sponsored by Democratic State Sens. Faith Winter, of Westminster, and Janice Marchman, of Loveland. State Rep. Brianna Titone, an Arvada Democrat and the legislature's only transgender member, is also a co-sponsor. 

If cleared by the Senate and signed by the governor, the bill would go into effect in July 2025. 

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee and Utah are several states that have passed laws restricting pronoun use in schools.