Colorado Bill Would Take Kids Away From Parents Who Refuse To Trans Them
By Zachary MettlerColorado’s Democrat state legislators want to force transgenderism on parents, requiring them to affirm their child’s “gender identity” or risk losing custody.
Radical lawmakers introduced “Concerning Legal Protections for The Dignity of a Minor” (SB 26-018) on Jan. 14, and the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill, referring it to the full Senate on Feb. 18.
In its intended form, the bill requires courts to consider whether parents embrace their child’s “gender identity” when determining custody. Courts must favor parents who support their child’s “preferred name and pronouns” and push their child to receive harmful and damaging “transgender” drugs, hormones, and surgeries.
The bill states courts must “consider whether the parties recognize the child’s identity as it relates to a protected class” when “determining parenting time and the allocation of decision-making responsibility.”
Defining the “protected classes,” the bill references the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which includes individual’s “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”
Kids Removed from Parents
While the bill seeks to regulate custody disputes, it also opens the door for courts or child protective services to remove transgender-identified kids from the custody of parents who believe in biological reality and don’t want to irreversibly harm their child with drugs and surgeries.
SB 26-018 would establish “de jure” what is already happening in Colorado and in other states around the country — even in red states like Indiana, Montana, Texas, and Arizona.
When Krista and Todd Kolstad’s 14-year-old daughter landed in a Montana hospital for suicidal thoughts, her parents had no idea she would soon be taken from them. After the Kolstads’ daughter revealed her desire to “change genders,” Montana Child and Family Services removed her from their custody and relocated her to a treatment facility in Wyoming focused on “gender therapy.”
“They have a complete agenda. We have no voice, no voice in court,” Todd said. “They just gag ordered us and threatened jail time.”
Likewise, Mary and Jeremy Cox lost custody of their 16-year-old son for refusing to affirm his sexual identity confusion.
In courtroom proceedings, the Indiana Department of Child Services — while using biologically incorrect pronouns — argued the Coxes’ son needed to be in a home “where she is accepted for who she is,” not one that will “tell her how she should think and how she should feel.”
Too many courts across the country already feel emboldened to allow the state to kidnap children from “non-affirming” parents — even without any allegations of abuse or neglect. If SB 26-018 in its original form becomes law, this deceptive scheme will only get much worse.
Colorado Legislators Tried This Before
If you’re feeling a sense of déjà vu, it’s because Colorado legislators tried to enact this exact measure last year.
State Democrats advanced the “Kelly Loving Act” (HB 1312), which would have prohibited parents from “misgendering” or “deadnaming” their child, likening such practices to “abuse,” equivalent to “threatening, humiliating, or [other] intimidating actions, including assaults or other abuse.”
One provision of the legislation would have facilitated the state removing a child from their parents’ custody if they refused to “affirm” their child’s desire to “socially” or “medically transition.”
After 18,000 Coloradans sent emails opposing the bill and 700 showed up to testify against the legislation, the provision was removed from the final bill.
Colorado’s radical legislators took the half loaf they could get and passed the rest of HB 1312. Now, they’re back for the other half.
Erin Lee, founder and director of Protect Kids Colorado, is sounding the alarm about SB 26-018. “Colorado is passing laws to TAKE CHILDREN AWAY FROM PARENTS who will not trans them,” Lee has warned. “If you won’t tell your child they’re born in the wrong body & sterilize them, the state will take them.”
“We must fight SB 26-018, and we must have federal legislation to ensure this stops happening everywhere,” she added.
Primary sponsors of the bill include Sens. Katie Wallace and Chris Kolker and Reps. Meg Froelich and Lorena García.
Latest Action
When Wallace introduced the legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 18, she made a stunning announcement. She requested an amendment wholly gutting Section 2 of her own bill — the portion requiring courts to consider minors’ “gender identity.”
Wallace clearly was not happy doing so. “It pains us to remove this provision,” the senator said. “In leaving this section behind, we are leaving behind children with disabilities, and indigenous children, and many others.”
“We look forward to fighting another day for this effort,” Wallace concluded.
The amendment to gut the provision was unanimously adopted. But why would a state senator choose a “painful” decision to gut a portion of her own bill if it’s so crucial to “protect” children? It’s quite possible Gov. Jared Polis intervened to quash the far-reaching provision.
However, there’s no guarantee other lawmakers won’t seek to bring back Section 2 — perhaps even as the bill advances.
Democrats massively outnumber Republicans in the Colorado General Assembly by a 43-21 margin in the House and a 23-12 margin in the Senate. In the coming days, the full Colorado Senate will consider the legislation.
Colorado’s uber-left legislature has never seen a bad idea it didn’t like. The radical idea that kids should be taken away from “non-affirming” parents was opposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. When a similar bill came across his desk in 2023, Gov. Newsom refused to sign the legislation.
In his veto message, he “urge[d] caution when the Executive and Legislative branches of state government attempt to dictate — in prescriptive terms that single out one characteristic — legal standards for the Judicial branch to apply.”
It’s crazy to say, but Colorado should follow California’s lead.
Parents everywhere must firmly and vocally oppose Colorado lawmakers’ attempt to kidnap children and obliterate parental rights. If the bill in its intended form becomes law in Colorado, there’s no telling where it will metastasize to next.
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