A law passed by the Democrat-controlled Colorado legislature threatening public schools with a $25,000 fine for using any American Indian name as a mascot is being challenged in federal court by Native Americans who believe it violates their civil rights.

Five plaintiffs filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Gov. Jared Polis and a number of other state officials saying that Senate Bill 21-116, titled “Prohibition on use of American Indian Mascots,” violates their constitutional rights. The plaintiffs include two minors attending Colorado public schools, two adults and the Native American Guardian’s Association.

The statute, says attorney Will Trachman of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, which represents the plaintiffs, prevents them from petitioning schools to name themselves in honor of Native Americans. The $25,000 fine “chills their speech” and the statute is so vague that “persons of common intelligence must necessarily guess at the meaning, scope, and application of SB 21-116,” says the complaint.

The complaint also alleges violation of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provides that “no person shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

The plaintiffs believe in the idea of “reappropriation,” in which they petition school districts to use Native American names, iconography and imagery in positive, honorific ways, rather than as derogations of their heritage. This statute, they say, violates their rights by prohibiting schools from portraying Native Americans in a positive light.

“Reappropriation allows Native Americans to self-identify, and non-Native American allies to associate their identities with the messages that Plaintiffs seek to convey, in order to persuade others to join the cause of Plaintiffs,” says the complaint.

Trachman told The Denver Gazette, “The law is very poorly drafted. Not only have they swept in all the things they meant to sweep in, like ‘Indians’ and ‘warriors,’ but they’ve swept in things like the Cherokee Trail Cougars or Pagosa Springs teams because they’ve got the words Pagosa and Cherokee in them. And they’ve also swept in honorific names. So, if you wanted to name a school Sitting Bull High School in honor of Sitting Bull, well, they would have to pay a $25,000 per month fine.”

Trachman says the law is “patronistic” and that the state has deemed certain things offensive on behalf of Native Americans and banned those expressions.

For example, the word “queer,” a term long used as an insult, has been successfully reappropriated. Trachman says the ability of his clients to persuade public schools to use Native American symbols in a respectful, positive way is destroyed by the law and prevents them from righting the wrongs of the past.

“My clients are Native Americans who appreciate tasteful and respectful images related to Native Americans,” said Trachman. “Even if something is a little bit edgy like ‘savages,’ they believe in reappropriation. We’ve seen this with a number of other racial demographics.”

“There’s an Asian American band called the Slants that went all the way to the Supreme Court litigating for their right to call their band the Slants even though it’s typically an offensive name for Asian Americans,” Trachman continued. “They said, ‘Look, our theory is reappropriation. We intentionally use an offensive name as part of what we’re doing here.'”

Spokespeople for Polis and state Attorney General Phil Weiser said they would not comment because the lawsuit is ongoing.

An email sent Thursday to the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs for comment on the lawsuit was not immediately returned.

The suit asks for a temporary restraining order, a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent enforcement of the law, a declaratory judgment that the law is unconstitutional, attorney’s fees and “nominal damages of $1.00.”

The case has not yet been set for trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.