Colorado- State legislature enhances queer safety and trans protections

Colorado passes 6 bills cumulatively protecting transsexual and queer rights.

By Artemis T. Douglas

In the four months that the Colorado legislature was in session this year, they were able to pass six laws that directly positively affect queer and trans lives. These laws collectively improve trans and queer protections and attempt to pre-empt certain potential federal crackdowns.

All si were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis. Two directly increase quality of living for trans people, including transsexuals- HB 1312 and HB 1309. 

The former, House Bill 1312 aka the “Kelly Loving Act” directly protects gender expression, chosen names, and fairness in discipline in public and charter schools within Colorado.

HB 1312 also allows any Colorado birth certificate or driver’s license to have the gender marker changed up to three times through self-attestation, instead of the former limit of one time.

Further changes to gender/sex markers on legal documents beyond three are allowed under the new law, but would require a court order.

HB 1312 also includes a legislative declaration that people in Colorado, including trans people, have the right to non-discrimination and the ability to “safely and freely” choose the healthcare that’s right for them.

Legislative declarations don’t change statutes, so this portion of the bill is without teeth. 

However, legislative declarations are an important way to gauge and record policy sentiment among lawmakers.

HB 1312 however, does commit to law further statutory changes protecting civil union and marriage licenses including in the case of legal gender transition. 

That’s a stark contrast to legal systems that have existed, such as the one in the UK that for years required divorcing your spouse if you changed your sex legally.

HB 1312 and its provisions took effect on May 16.

The latter, House Bill 1309, expands transsexual healthcare coverage in the state. 

Previously, gender affirming care was protected in state funded health plans and marketplace exchange health plans.

HB 1309 changes that to all health plans in Colorado. In other words, from the law taking effect on May 23, all health care plans in Colorado must cover the specified gender-affirming health procedures to help transsexuals change their sex.

Those procedures are as follows, from the bill text itself:

“(I) "GENDER-AFFIRMING HEALTH CARE" MEANS ALL SUPPLIES, CARE, AND SERVICES OF A MEDICAL, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH, PSYCHIATRIC, HABILITATIVE, SURGICAL, THERAPEUTIC, DIAGNOSTIC, PREVENTIVE, REHABILITATIVE, OR SUPPORTIVE NATURE RELATING TO THE TREATMENT OF GENDER DYSPHORIA. "GENDER-AFFIRMING HEALTH CARE" INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING, OR ANY COMBINATION OF THE FOLLOWING: 

(A) HORMONE THERAPY; 

(B) BLEPHAROPLASTY, EYE AND LID; 

(C) FACE, FOREHEAD, OR NECK SKIN TIGHTENING; 

(D) FACIAL BONE REMODELING; 

(E) GENIOPLASTY; 

(F) RHYTIDECTOMY FOR THE CHEEK, CHIN, OR NECK; 

(G) CHEEK, CHIN, OR NOSE IMPLANTS; 

(H) LIP LIFT OR AUGMENTATION; 

(I) MANDIBULAR ANGLE AUGMENTATION, CREATION, OR REDUCTION; 

(J) ORBITAL RECONTOURING; 

(K) RHINOPLASTY; 

(L) LASER OR ELECTROLYSIS HAIR REMOVAL; 

(M) BREAST OR CHEST AUGMENTATION, REDUCTION, OR CONSTRUCTION; AND 

(N) GENITAL AND NONGENITAL SURGICAL PROCEDURES

In other words, under the new law health insurance in Colorado “shall not deny or limit” face surgery, top surgery, bottom surgery, or hair removal. 

HB 1309 also creates a “healthcare affordability fund” that is a statewide fund for appropriations as well as public and private donations to go into. 

The purpose of this fund seems to be to bypass weaponization of federal funding to limit healthcare.

The bill text explicitly carves out that the fund and its publicly-appointed manager are “to cover the costs of ensuring compliance in the individual market with the federal hyde amendment or a similar amendment, and to cover the costs of ensuring that coloradans have access to legally protected health-care activities.”

The Hyde amendment is a long-standing federal ban on federal public money going towards abortion or abortion related care. 

HB 1309 carves out a mechanism for funding within the state that means abortion and trans healthcare alike can be covered, paid for with the intention of keeping such healthcare affordable.

In other words, Colorado seems to be working towards a lack of dependency on federal dollars for abortion and transition healthcare- which could prevent the trend where healthcare providers cave to federal executive pressure in a craven attempt maintain funding overall from continuing in Colorado.

It also changes the statutes on publicly-available data regarding controlled substance prescribing and government access to archives of controlled substance prescription scripts by blocking testosterone prescriptions “from view.”

In other words, it helps to protect transsexual men (and transsexual women maintaining fertility) from being tracked through public health databases. 

Other bills relevant to transsexuals and queer communities that passed this session include HB 1109, HB 1084, SB 64, and SB 14.

House Bill 1109 makes it a requirement that death certificates reflect the deceased’s gender identity. This could effectively end transsexual demographic erasure in statistics that track the dead among a population- including murder victims.

House Bill 1084 removes gendered language from the entire title of Colorado statutes that pertain to agriculture, Title 35.

Senate Bill 63 is a pre-emptive anti-book-ban law. Its provisions require that school and public libraries create new inclusive standards for book requisitions and look at their existing inventories to minimize gaps in covered human experiences and identities. 

SB 63 also legally prohibits retaliation against school and public librarians for performing their duties- making harassment and other means of retaliation a civil offense.

Senate Bill 14 removes the statewide statutory ban on gay marriage. This means that even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns their prior Obergefell ruling making gay marriage bans unconstitutional, gay marriage won’t become illegal in Colorado without further state legislative action.

Editor’s Note: It appears Erin in the Morning, Trans News Network, and Assigned Media all have not covered these bills explicitly. Other local to Colorado coverage does exist, however.