Bipartisan lawmakers stood shoulder to shoulder Thursday morning in recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment, but within minutes the moment of solidarity shattered into a party battle on abortion and transgender rights. 

The state House of Representatives introduced a resolution marking the 100th anniversary of when the ERA, an effort to codify gender equality in the U.S. Constitution, was first proposed in 1923. The ERA was passed by Congress nearly 50 years after its introduction, but it was never ratified by the states. 

The resolution called on Congress to enshrine the ERA into the Constitution, saying that women’s rights are still being challenged. 

“I want to highlight the bipartisan nature of the Equal Rights Amendment,” said Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood, who sponsored the resolution. “In 1940, the Republican Party became the first major party to endorse the amendment. … Almost all of our firsts for women in Colorado were Republican women.” 

“Thank you for letting us celebrate this today,” she added. 

Shortly after the resolution’s introduction, Republican House members put forth a series of unsuccessful amendments that would have, in part, removed portions of the resolution that say women are denied equality via bodily autonomy and equal pay. 

Instead, the amendments sought to add that the rights of a woman “to be born,” “to compete in single-sex athletics” and “to protect herself” with a firearm are being infringed. The amendments also said “there are important reasons to distinguish between the sexes” and “unborn women have protectable interests in life, health and well-being.” 

Republican representatives, including Richard Holtorf and Scott Bottoms, used the amendment debates to attack transgender people, calling for the rights of “biological and chromosomal women” only, with the latter saying, “we want to defend the ability of women to be women.” 

“We can’t even define what a woman is today. We call it ‘pregnant persons’ and things like that,” said Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs. “There is such a thing as XX and XY, no matter how much you lie to yourself and change it.” 

Several Republican lawmakers specifically criticized legislation being considered in the Capitol this session, including a bill to require non-gendered bathrooms in public buildings and a rejected bill to prohibit transgender women from competing in school sports. 

Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, pushed the amendments to recognize the rights of “unborn women,” telling an emotional story of when she suffered a stillbirth at 8½ months pregnant.  

“We talk about equal rights for women, where are hers?” Bradley said through tears. “How do we pick and choose which women get equal rights and which women do not?” 

Another amendment attempted to state that ERA died and is no longer legally pending. 

After being passed by Congress, ERA needed three-fourths of states to ratify the amendment. In 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment, completing the requirement. However, the state’s attorney general later withdrew the ratification. 

Proponents of the ERA argue that it had met the constitutional requirements and should have already gone into effect, while opponents say the amendment died due to a deadline that passed decades ago and states rescinding their support. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court dismissed a case seeking to recognize ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. 

While Republicans spoke on their own amendments for over an hour, Democrats largely did not engage in the debate, speaking mostly just to request their colleagues to vote “no” on the amendments, with the occasional comment. 

“Here we are fighting for equal rights for women and men still think they know best,” said Rep. Regina English, D-Colorado Springs. 

The resolution passed the House, 52-12, vote, with all Democrats in support and all but seven Republicans opposed.

Republican Reps. Rod Bockenfeld, Mary Bradfield, Marc Catlin, Mike Lynch, Rose Pugliese, Matt Soper and Ron Weinberg joined the Democrats in voting “yes” on the resolution – though they also each supported every one of the failed amendments from their party. 

The only Republican who voted against any of the amendments was Rep. Rick Taggart of Grand Junction, who voted “no” on the amendment that sought to add that the rights of a woman “to be born,” “to compete in single-sex athletics” and “to protect herself” with a firearm are being infringed, in addition to saying the ERA applies to fetuses but not transgender women.