Colorado is Rocky Mountain High on Gender

Thanks in part to the Gill Foundation

April 6, 2025

On April 4, the Colorado House Judiciary Committee voted to pass HB 25-1312, titled, “Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals.”

The bill would require courts to consider "deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual's gender-affirming health-care services as types of coercive control" when making child custody decisions. In other words, it would require courts to give preference to a parent who “affirms a child’s gender identity” over a parent who wants to protect his or her child from dangerous hormones and/or surgeries in custody disputes.

The bill passed in a 7-4 vote out of the committee. It now goes to the Assembly for a second reading. If the bill passes, it would make Colorado the first state to pass such legislation.

The California state legislature passed a similar bill in 2023, but Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed it. I do not think that Governor Newsom vetoed the bill out of the goodness of his heart, but rather because he read the room and understood that American voters are not okay with this sort of thing. I think the same of his declaration last month that allowing male athletes to compete in sports meant for women and girls is “deeply unfair.”

Unlike other Democrats with national name recognition, Gavin Newsom understands the polling. I’m reasonably confident he plans to run for president in 2028. He read the room and decided to become the first prominent Democrat to lead on this issue. Colorado Governor Jared Polis has not done anything similar.

Colorado seems set to out-California California when it comes to enshrining gender woo in state law. That’s no small feat.

The only way to understand why Colorado is out-Californiaing California is to understand the Gill Foundation. Read on to find out why.

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