Colorado law now explicitly protects transgender people from being “deadnamed” or misgendered in certain places under legislation signed into law Friday by Gov. Jared Polis.
Passed as House Bill 1312, the new law is formally named for Kelly Loving, a transgender woman who died in the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. The law expands the state’s antidiscrimination laws, which apply to settings like workplaces and schools, to include provisions related to using a person’s chosen name and referring to them how they wish.
It also makes it easier for people to change their gender identity on birth certificates and driver’s licenses, and to change their names on marriage licenses.
“The Kelly Loving Act is a beacon of hope to trans people across the country,” Z Williams, whose law firm Bread and Roses supported HB-1312, said Friday. “Our organizing works. Hope is still alive. To be trans is to know how to struggle. We will not stop this work until every trans person is safe and free.”
The bill’s journey through the legislature included conservative pushback and political wrangling among LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. On Friday, Polis signed the bill administratively, without issuing a statement or holding a ceremony.
The measure was sponsored by Democratic Reps. Lorena Garcia and Rebekah Stewart and Sens. Faith Winter and Chris Kolker. Its antidiscrimination protections will go into effect immediately, as will another provision that requires schools with dress codes to allow students to choose from any option within the rules for uniforms.
The name- and gender-changing provisions will kick in on Oct. 1, 2026.
HB-1312 passed the legislature May 6, one day before lawmakers adjourned for the spring. The bill was drafted from a survey of more than 500 transgender Coloradans, many of whom later testified to lawmakers about the discrimination they faced in their daily lives and the fear that’s been driven acutely by the Trump administration’s anti-transgender policies.
After swiftly passing the state House in early April, the bill faced headwinds in the state Senate. Polis’ office and prominent LGBTQ+ groups raised concerns about some of its provisions, including a shield law component intended to protect transgender children here from other states’ laws.
Another section, which would’ve directed judges to consider parents’ acceptance of their children’s gender identity in family court proceedings, also drew significant Republican opposition.
Ultimately, those provisions were struck from the bill. The family court language was removed entirely, while the shield law was replaced with a legislative declaration stating that people should receive health care “without unnecessary governmental interference.”
Polis is also expected to sign House Bill 1309, which enshrines access to gender-affirming care in state law. Like HB-1312, that bill also passed the legislature in the final days of the session earlier this month.
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