A team from Colorado’s information companion, The Gazette, has filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado politicians, alleging they suppressed the free talk of those opposed to a bill that would allow trans people convicted of crimes to officially change their name during public sessions.
The issue claimed that defendants are using their legal standing to “put a finger on the size of the government’s debate about transgenderism” by Colorado legislators and transgender advocates.
By prohibiting “misgendering” or “deadnaming,” and otherwise requiring people to express devotion to transgender ideology under the pretext of “politeness” or “decorum,” the problem continued. “They have prescribed how critics of transsexuals must present their sights during the public evidence percentage of commission hearings before the Colorado Legislature.”
The bill’s critics claimed that it would prioritize victims over the rights of criminals. They also raised concerns about public safety and that the bill should not be named after a felon.
Supporters countered that changing a person’s name would not have an impact on their criminal history, arguing that it would continue to follow them as their Social Security number does not change and fingerprints do not. They also accused critics of fear-mongering.
The Institute for Free Speech’s lawsuit, filed on behalf of Gays Against Groomers and the Rocky Mountain Women’s Network, seeks to impose speaker restrictions on using the terms “misgendering” and “deadnaming” when referring to transgender people, as required by Colorado lawmakers.
“Misgendering” refers to assigning the wrong gender to someone and “deadnaming” means using an individual’s birth name, rather than the name the person adopted as part of the gender transition.
Endel “Dell” Kolde, lead attorney for Gays Against Groomers and the Rocky Mountain Women’s Network, said speakers in support of the bill were permitted to provide testimony — but not his clients.
“We’re just asking for equal treatment,” Kolde said.
Citizens have the opportunity to voice their opinions on proposed legislation while appearing at legislative hearings, as well as have their opinions recorded in the legislative record.
A person who has been found guilty of a felony must formally revert to the name they were previously found guilty of. Gender identity would be a good cause for a name change in the bill if it were approved and signed into law.
The bill has been dubbed “Tiara’s Law” after Tiara Latrice Kelley, a transgender drag queen and Club Q performer who owns Latrice Kelley Productions, a Denver company that produces LGBTQ+ events.
A document shared with The Denver Gazette said Kelley has been convicted multiple times in Florida under the legal name “Duane Powell” for a variety of infractions, including cocaine distribution, domestic abuse, exposing genitalia, prostitution, forgery, providing false information to police and driving without a valid license.
This “gives people the opportunity to conceal their past,” says one critic.
According to opponents of the bill, changing someone’s legal name without having their criminal history followed them could expose the general public, particularly women and children, to risk, depending on the crime.
“Forget about changing the legal names of transgender people who have been found guilty of felonies,” said Christina Goeke, the founder of Rocky Mountain Women’s Network and a critic of expanding transgender rights.
“It puts the public in more danger because we don’t give each other social security numbers, we give each other names,” Goeke said.
Rocky Mountain Women’s Network describes itself as a group that works to protect women and girls’ sex-based rights to female-only sports, spaces, and resources.
Rich Guggenheim, a Colorado member of Gays Against Groomers, echoed that sentiment.
Guggenheim said he is also concerned about protecting the LBTBQ+ community in light of the political climate surrounding transgender rights and gender-affirming care.
“The fact that this allows people to conceal their past is our main concern,” Guggenheim said.
Created in 2022, Gays Against Groomers is a nonprofit organization comprised of “gays against the sexualization, indoctrination, and medicalization of children,” according to the group’s Instagram page. The organization is known for opposing “gender-affirming care” for minors, which includes social, psychological, or medical interventions for transgender people, such as hormone therapy and surgical procedures, and for criticizing Drag Queen Story Hour happenings.
“I don’t want people to think that this is an attack on transgender people, it is not,” Guggenheim said.
Because they used a male pronoun for Kelley, the complaint claimed, lawmakers prevented Goeke and Guggenheim from speaking at House and Senate Judiciary Committee meetings in January and March.
According to the complaint, portions of Goeke’s testimony were removed from the Senate hearing’s official audio recording.
The complaint lists as defendants some of Colorado’s most progressive lawmakers, including state Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, the first openly gay African-American to be elected to Colorado’s state legislature.
Democratic lawmakers Rep. Lorena Garcia and Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, who are also sponsors of the bill, have been named defendants in the federal lawsuit.
The Denver Gazette reached out by phone and email to all of the named defendants, but none responded.
Republicans and Democrats debated the state House bill on March 1.
“You’re taking one group of people and saying they deserve more ability, more opportunity to be able to hide their criminal record” over all other felons, who would also want to hide a criminal record, said Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs. Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, added the bill “chooses the wrong victims: the perpetrators of crime, not the actual victims”.
“People should not have to live under the shadow of their mistakes,” countered Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, who is transgender.
According to Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, who added that there is no greater individual thought than the right to self-determination and name oneself, “people are being harmed” for saying that they want equal protection under the law.
Government cannot control how someone wants to be identified, she said.
“This bill does not allow anyone to hide,” Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Westminster, also insisted.
House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, halted the discussion a number of times after Republican and Democratic lawmakers made comments she described as objectionable.
House Bill HB 1071 has passed out of both the state House and Senate.
Legislators in Colorado have taken into account a number of transgender issues during the regular session this year, which started in January. These include bills that would create a task force for the Colorado Department of Education to examine how best to put non-legal name change policies for students into effect.
