ROOKE: Blue State Should Pay The Price For Breaking America’s Greatest Promise

The First Amendment protects American citizens’ right to free speech, but a recently passed Colorado bill plays into left-wing ideology that violates this promise and more.

Under the guise of “anti-discrimination” and adding legal protection for so-called transgender individuals, Colorado lawmakers adopted into law House Bill 25-1312, “Legal Protections for Transgender Individuals,” which may violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

.@DefendingEd is joining forces with @DoNoHarm, @ProtectKidsCO, and @CPANColorado to challenge this unconstitutional law and defend the right to speak freely.

More here: https://t.co/zmab8BBO5p

— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) May 19, 2025

This bill puts the government and schools in charge of the welfare of children by requiring that the courts consider whether parents committed cardinal sins of transgender ideology like deadnaming or misgendering, which is now considered “coercive control” under the law. It also prevents the court from removing a child from a parent for allowing the child to receive so-called “gender-affirming care services.” These procedures are known to cause irreversible damage to children’s bodies, including removing healthy organs and loss of future fertility. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

HB 25-1312 also changes the state law to include deadnaming and misgendering as discriminatory acts. This makes using biological pronouns and birth names in a public place a discriminatory practice, which could mean fines starting at $5,000 per violation. It requires teachers to use “chosen” names and pronouns, and that school districts provide clothes and other amenities for these confused children, even if the parents disapprove.

Colorado bill HB HB 25-1312 is positioned as protection from discrimination for “trans-gender individuals” but essentially criminalizes misgendering as “hate speech” and is one of the most egregious violations of free speech fathomable. pic.twitter.com/5kYkLP826Q

— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) May 3, 2025

Defending Education, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm, and Dr. Travis Morrell joined to bring a complaint against state officials and others under 42 U.S.C. §1983, claiming HB 25-1312 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. (ROOKE: Trump Just Got Permission To Say ‘¡Adiós!’ To Biden’s Posse)

“‘If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.’ West Virginia v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943). The state cannot place its thumb on the scale to favor one side of a contentious public debate. It certainly cannot stifle viewpoints it doesn’t like simply because it finds those views offensive or disagreeable,” Defending Education said in a statement.

As parents sit back and watch the state remove our divine right to raise our children within the bounds of our moral values, it’s hard not to wonder when the higher courts will step in to protect our ability to do that.

Here’s the Colorado perverts responsible for passing HB 25-1312 which makes “misgendering” a form of “discrimination” empowering the state to kidnap your children.

Jesus promised millstones would be His response. pic.twitter.com/s1MK4tgSNw

— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) May 10, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court did step in on behalf of children in 2024 when it reversed a lower court ruling that blocked an Idaho law to protect children from irreversible procedures progressives tout as gender-affirming care for minors. Hopefully, it doesn’t come down to SCOTUS to decide whether this law is unconstitutional. It seems like a very straightforward answer. (ROOKE: Trump Made The First Move. It’s High Time We Cull The Culture Vultures)

The language of HB 25-1312 is government-compelled speech, and violations of the law result in massive penalties. The lower courts should have no reason to deny the complaint against them. Still, as parents have unfortunately experienced during the rise of transgender ideology in our country, we can’t rely on the judicial system to protect our rights.

The left wants you to believe that the government has the right to sever the parent-child relationship by ending the importance of parental authority. It also wants you to believe in a false reality that sex is not immutable by forcing even non-parents to use fake names and pronouns. Their ultimate goal is to get to children. They want them so badly, and you, as their parent, stand in the way.

We have to fix this problem. Not only should this law be struck down as unconstitutional, but any state official who voted for or otherwise signed their name to it should face serious repercussions at the ballot box. We have to end the left’s control of our state and local governments, or these laws will continue to pass.

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