Courts will consider whether parents “recognize the child’s identity as it relates to a protected class” when determining custody and parenting time. Colorado Revised Statutes 24-34-301 defines protected class to include gender identity and gender expression. A mother who believes her 12-year-old daughter cannot become a boy faces custody consequences for that belief.
Senate Bill 26-018 adds this factor to “best interests of the child” determinations. Sen. Chris Kolker (D), Sen. Kyle Wallace (D), and Rep. Meg Froelich (D) sponsor it. The bill also requires courts to suppress records of name change petitions for minors—the petitioner’s original name and new name cannot be published online or made public except for administrative purposes or with written consent.
Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000) recognized parental rights to direct children’s upbringing as fundamental liberty interests protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Race doesn’t change because a child identifies differently. Religion involves parental guidance. Disability status exists independent of parental recognition. Gender identity requires parental affirmation of the child’s self-perception as objective reality.
Colorado courts and child protective services already remove children from parents who won’t affirm gender transitions. The 2022 Custer County case documented such removals. Statutory codification makes it official state policy instead of individual judicial action.
The bill applies the new factor only when considering whether parents “recognize” claimed identities. It doesn’t consider whether parents encouraging gender exploration are pushing ideology onto children. It doesn’t question whether the child’s claimed identity results from social contagion, online influence, or parental pressure.
Suppressing name change records prevents public knowledge of how many children change legal identities based on gender claims. Parents, schools, and medical providers have reasons to know a child’s legal name history. Suppression prevents accountability when future data shows how many children were transitioned under this policy.
With Democrat supermajorities, passage is likely. Constitutional challenges on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds will follow.
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