On March 27th, the Colorado Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee voted to defeat, House Bill 1122, the Birth Certificate Modernization Act — a bill that would bring Colorado law in line with federal policy for transgender Coloradans who want to update the gender on their birth certificate — for the third year in a row.
The Republicans on the State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee of the Colorado Senate had the chance to, yet again, do the right thing for transgender Coloradans. The Birth Certificate Modernization Act would have greatly impacted transgender Coloradans’ lives in making the process less burdensome to update the gender on their birth certificate. For the third year in a row, legislators have chosen politics over people’s lives.
Again, we heard from numerous transgender Coloradans, their families, and experts demonstrating that this bill would not only make their lives easier, but would also save lives. Removing this specific barrier would have significantly reduced the stress and trauma a person goes through in the process of updating their gender. As well as it would reduce long-term mental health outcomes — such as depression, anxiety, and even suicidality.
This much-needed legislation would simply have brought Colorado law in line with existing policies at the federal level, and in doing so would have protected the privacy of transgender Coloradans and protected them from discrimination.
This is the second pro-LGBTQ legislation that has been introduced and killed in the Senate within a week and it’s clear members of Senate Leadership do not have the freedoms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Coloradans in mind. We want to thank Senator Dominick Moreno and Representative Daneya Esgar for sponsoring House Bill 1122, and State Senators Stephen Fenberg and Lois Court for their votes today in support of transgender Coloradans and their families.
Daniel Ramos is the Executive Director of Colorado One.
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