A group of high school students who have been working on legislative proposals for 2024 got a taste last week of the opposition those bills could draw.

An interim legislative committee aligned with the Colorado Youth Advisory Council reviewed six bills the latter wants to push for in next year’s session. The interim committee holds the authority to approve three that would move on to the Legislative Council, which will meet on Nov. 15 to review all bill requests from the interim groups that have been meeting throughout the summer and fall.

Already, two of the three bills the youth council-aligned committee chose are drawing objections from people allied with conservative groups Moms4Liberty, the Christian Home Educators Association and Gays against Groomers.

The Oct. 25 committee meeting pared down the wish list from the youth council from six bills to three, two of which focus on gender identity.

That’s what drew opposition from the conservative groups, as well as from committee Republicans. 

The first bill the committee reviewed, which ultimately received a party-line 3-2 approval to move forward, deals with modifying the name change process in schools for transgender and gender-diverse students, according to the youth council’s Meghan Taylor, a student from Cascade who represents Senate District 12 in El Paso County. Such a name change applies only to the school and is not legally binding. For that, courts have to approve the name change.    

She told the committee transgender youth who live in environments where their chosen name and pronouns are respected attempt suicide at half the rate of individuals who experience the opposite, citing a study from the Minnesota Department of Health. Ensuring schools have a common process for non-legal name changes will help lower rates of suicide among transgender youth, she said.

Under the youth council’s proposal, a school that refuses to use a student’s preferred name is engaging in discrimination.

The bill also seeks the creation of a task force under the Department of Education that will look at existing school policies regarding non-legal name changes. 

Republican committee members raised worries about the lack of parental involvement, including whether students would be engaging in deceit with their parents.

Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland, said he would want to hear from a police chief who could talk about the implications of unofficial names during a school attack, for example.

“I’d like to know what their concerns would be if they had an inaccurate number of how many students were in the school” – because the name being used is not the one on an official list, he said.

Taylor objected to Weinberg’s characterization of deceit. This is about protection, she said.

Sen. Janice Marchman, D-Loveland, who is also a teacher, added that during a school shooting, police officers are counting heads and teachers are responsible for making sure everyone is accounted for. Police are not checking genders and names, she said.

Carolyn Martin, the government relations director for Christian Home Educators of Colorado, said “parental rights must be upheld even if the state does not like what parents choose.” Martin said she represented only herself at the hearing, not her group.

Martin also claimed the task force would lack credibility because “it would be used as a tool to keep significant information from parents and create a dual record system.”

She said the “idea of keeping secrets” from parents what their child’s name is at school is being litigated across the nation.

Erin Lee of Fort Collins, who also opposed the proposal, said her 12-year-old daughter was invited by her art teacher to an after-school art club that Lee said was really about gender and sexuality. Her daughter was told she was transgender and introduced to the concepts of medical transition, puberty blockers, polyamory, the importance of connecting with trusted adults online, lying to parents and suicide.

“She was encouraged not to tell parents, but she told us anyway,” Lee said. 

Lee said other students came forward with similar stories. This bill, Lee said, “is forced unconstitutional speech teachers have enough to worry about. Please don’t also force them to socially transition children and lie to parents.”

The Poudre School District cut ties with the nonprofit SPLASHNoCo, which organized the after-school club, following Lee’s allegations. The May 2021 incident has been prominently featured on conservative media and taken up by conservative groups, such as Gays Against Groomers and Moms for Liberty. In Colorado, Moms for Liberty have advocated for banning books from schools that it says contain sexually explicit materials inappropriate for children, with about one-third dealing with LGBTQ+ issues, and held protests at school district board meetings over pronouns, mental health services or mask mandates.

Lee and several other parents whose children were involved in the event have also filed a lawsuit against the school district.

Social issues such as these are causing upheaval in public education, pitting schools against parents – and teachers and staff against parents, said John Graham, president of the Falcon D49 board of education.

Created by the General Assembly in 2008, the Colorado Youth Advisory Council has 40 members – high school students from ages 14 to 19, who represent each of the state’s 35 Senate districts, a voting member each representing the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute tribes, and three non-voting at-large members selected to ensure diversity, including rural representation.

Five lawmakers serve on the interim Colorado Youth Advisory Council Committee, which reviews draft legislation suggested by the students. 

The council has encountered success in pushing for legislation in the past. Four of its proposals submitted for the 2023 session – on preventing eating disorders, substance use treatment in secondary schools, a task force to look at “disproportionate discipline” in schools and a requirement for youth involvement in reviewing state education standards – became law. 

The second bill to draw opposition from the conservative groups deals with gender-affirming care education for physicians.

Mason Evans, a youth council member who represents Senate District 3, which includes Pueblo, said the proposal would improve the availability of youth gender-affirming care. Initially, the bill also sought to set up a grant program within the state Department of Public Health and Environment, in which physicians and advanced practice providers would get the money for continuing medical education in gender-affirming health care.

However, the youth council plans to advocate for that portion of the bill to be amended out and to instead set it up as a study.   

Evans said he has personally struggled with accessing gender-affirming care.

“Doctors across Colorado want to provide gender-affirming care, want to have a open and welcoming environment for their patients, but they just do not know how,” Evans said.

The bill drew objections from Joe Currin, one of several witnesses representing Gays Against Groomers, who told the committee the bill as introduced is “poorly written without any defining age limits or caps on cost.” He said between 50% and 96% of Colorado children cannot pass basic math, science, or English, and funding should instead be directed toward teaching children life skills “so they can pay your salaries in the future.”

“These bills show how little you understand about our children and what is required to make them thrive,” Currin said. 

The interim committee approved to advance the bill also on a 3-2 party-line vote.

The third bill would set up a loan program for mental health professionals in schools, with up to $10,000 provided to cover student loans for counselors, psychologists and social workers.

Siddharth Nareddy, who represents Senate District 25 in Westminster on the youth council, spoke about the youth mental health crisis and how a lack of licensed mental health professionals contributes to it. He’s seen firsthand the devastation that this crisis has on schools, families and communities, Nareddy.

“It is clear from the numbers and the stories that the youth in our community are calling for help,” Nareddy added.

The council’s solution, Nareddy said, provides financial assistance through student aid relief, contingent on individuals practicing the area designated by state as “high need” and with a set amount of time – a minimum of three years – practicing in the schools. 

Access to treatment varies geographically and by race, Nareddy told the committee. In 124 out of the state’s 178 school districts in Colorado, there are no licensed school psychologists. The schools that do have psychologists have ratios in excess of 1:1000 students, about twice what’s recommended, he said.

That bill drew less opposition from witnesses, and even won support from Weinberg, who signed on to sponsor it in the House.