The Colorado Democratic Party on Friday demanded that a new group that describes “gender-affirming care” as “dangerous and disturbing” to cease using the word “Democrats” in its name.

The chair of the Democratic Party of Denver also made a similar demand.

“The Kremlin would be proud,” the Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender replied. The group said it has four chapters in Colorado. 

The latest salvo in America’s cultural wars pits the group – which says its members are Democrats, recently former party members or “newly politically homeless former Dems, who still hold onto our liberal values but believe that our party has veered way off track – and the Democratic establishment in Colorado.

To some extent, the fight echoes the feud between the El Paso County Republican Party and a group called Peak Republicans over the latter’s use of the word “Republican.” 

But the fight between Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender and the official Democratic parties in Colorado is more specific – over “gender-affirming care,” which includes social, psychological or medical interventions for transgender children and adults, such as hormone therapy and surgical procedures, notably double mastectomies and genital surgeries. 

“I want to make clear that the Democratic Party of Denver is not associated in any way with groups such as the so-called Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG),” James Reyes, chair of the Democratic Party of Denver, said in a separate news release. “Further, these groups are not authorized to use the moniker ‘Democrats,’ and I call upon this group, and others like it, to immediately cease the unauthorized use of the term ‘Democrats’ in their organization’s name.”

“Out west, we live and let live and we fight for our friends and family. Our transgender community members deserve the same safety and welcome in the Democratic Party as anyone else, and I call on this viciously anti-trans organization to cease use of our Party name to support their hate-filled agenda,” Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib said in statement. “Transphobia has no place in the Colorado Democratic Party. To our trans and nonbinary members of our community, we echo President Biden’s words from his 2024 Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong.”

Murib added he would bring the issue to the party’s central committee and will follow up with “additional action” if the group fails to acquiesce to his demand.

In a statement, Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender said it’s not changing its name, insisting the state Democratic Party doesn’t have a monopoly on the word “Democrat.”

“And we don’t need their approval to use it,” the group said, adding the state and Denver party establishments do not have any right to “insist that everyone who considers themselves a Democrat must share exactly the same opinion on every issue. Last we checked, this is not what ‘democracy’ means. These are shameful attempts to stifle freedom of speech and shut down crucial and reasonable dialogue.”

On its website, the group claimed that gender ideology has swept the country “largely via hijacking the gay rights movement, and under the guise of kindness.” The group said gender ideology and its “medicalization of children” is in “direct opposition to core liberal values,” notably protecting vulnerable children and adults from harm and “holding as foundational the scientific method, including practicing evidence-based medical care.”

The group also said “unstudied interventions,” despite the claim of improving the lives of people, have instead created “lifelong medical patients at high risk for permanent sexual dysfunction, and in some cases have resulted in sterilization.”

“The promotion of extreme interventions such as puberty blockers, sex-trait modification via cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries performed as a remedy for mental distress may represent the biggest medical scandal of our time,” the group said, adding, “Despite no high-quality studies or long-term evidence, these radical interventions have been falsely presented not only as safe, but as lifesaving. Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

The group said America is an outlier and many European countries, after embracing “gender affirming care,” now emphasize psychological care over the transition of young people.    

?The National Health Service in England last month said it will no longer prescribe “puberty blockers” – drugs that suppress sex hormones during puberty – to children and other young people seeking gender transitions, saying there is “not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness.” In practice, the decision also applies to Wales, which does not have any NHS gender clinics for children. Northern Ireland says it will adopt England’s policy, while Scotland is weighing it.

Lawmakers across the U.S., where at least 23 states now have tightened or removed access to “gender affirming care,” have cited research or policies in other countries in pushing legislation.

In Colorado, lawmakers are considering several transgender issues, including bills that would provide a specific avenue for transgender individuals with a felony conviction to legally change their name, as well as legislation to require schools to use a student’s preferred name and subject the school to discrimination claims with the state’s Civil Rights Commission if they refused.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.