A Colorado state senator appeared to belittle the faith of critics by referring to “trans Jesus” amid debate on HB 25-1312, after he and his party amended the bill beyond recognition in the wee hours of Monday night, two days before the end of the Colorado legislative session.
HB 25-1312 drew national scrutiny after a Colorado Democrat compared concerned parents to the Ku Klux Klan. The bill originally mandated courts to consider “deadnaming” and “misgendering” as forms of “coercive control” in custody disputes, meaning that parents who dissent from gender identity could lose their children.
Following loud backlash, Senate Democrats substantially altered the measure after it passed the Colorado House of Representatives.
“This email says, basically, ‘I’m accountable to almighty God, because I’m standing up for equality, that my decisions, one day, I will stand before him and be accountable,’” state Sen. Chris Kolker, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said on Tuesday.
“Well, this is what I believe: Have you ever seen that movie ‘Talladega Nights?’ You see that section where they’re talking around the dinner table, and they’re talking about what their favorite version of Jesus is?” he asked. “Baby Jesus, I love baby Jesus. I love Lynyrd Skynyrd Jesus when angels are behind him and the choir is singing and he’s playing ‘Free Bird.’”
“Well, on my day of judgment, I might be standing in front of trans Jesus, I don’t know,” Kolker quipped.
Kolker’s remarks came amid confusion as Republicans and Democrats in the legislature considered the new version of HB 25-1312.
“We just asked the House sponsor, and she doesn’t even understand what her bill does anymore,” Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Republican, told The Daily Signal in an interview Tuesday. “So, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it if the sponsor—the original sponsor of the bill—doesn’t even understand what the bill does.”
Bradley warned, however, that the bill represents “a worse attack on parental rights.”
While the original version of the bill focused on “deadnaming” and “misgendering,” the new version allows minors to change their names on a birth certificate, cutting out parents in some circumstances.
The Republican lawmaker claims the change would allow a court-appointed guardian to change a child’s name if the state removed the child from his or her parents’ custody for disagreeing with the child’s transgender identity.
“The statute clearly says that a legal representative can now sign,” she noted. “This is outrageous for parents in Colorado. We need to sound the alarms.”
“Colorado’s HB 1312 remains an open assault on parent’s rights and free speech,” Kristen Christensen, Colorado state director for the conservative lobbying group Heritage Action, told The Daily Signal. “This legislation still includes school dress code language, adds to the anti-discrimination act, and muddies up legal documents with ‘sex’ changes. Heritage Action will continue the fight against this awful legislation.”
Law Enforcement Concerns
Bradley noted that the bill also has a specific section allowing “individuals not lawfully present” in the U.S. to amend a sex designation on their identification documents up to three times.
She warned that allowing such changes would frustrate law enforcement’s ability to carry out background checks, prevent mortgage brokers from checking a person’s credit, and enable sex offenders to avoid detection.
“How do we know that we’re not giving a job to a sex offender?” she asked. “This is horrific for the health care industry, for the mortgage industry, for the gun industry, for public safety,” adding: “How many sex offenders are going to be working with children as teachers? How many health care workers will be going into senior living?”
“How do you background-check people if they change their license three times and they’re here illegally?”
The bill would also extend Colorado’s legal provisions protecting illegal aliens in certain contexts, and grant them certain benefits. Critics say that makes Colorado a “sanctuary state,” though Centennial State Democrats contest that characterization.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced last month that authorities had arrested more than 100 illegal aliens in a multiagency raid at an “underground nightclub” in Colorado Springs.
The U.S. Justice Department recently sued Colorado over “sanctuary” policies.
What Will It Cost?
Bradley also noted that an earlier version of the bill, which included the driver’s license changes, was projected to cost $14.1 million. When those provisions were removed, the cost dropped to zero. Now, with the provisions brought back, the bill is projected to cost $15,689.
“No, give me a break. It’s not true,” she said. “They’re lying.”
Neither Kolker nor representatives for the House and Senate Democrats responded to The Daily Signal’s requests for comment.
