For several years now the Colorado Legislature has been passing laws that have caused an erosion to parental rights and that hand the public school establishment greater moral authority over the children they are supposedly charged to educate. Governor Polis has now signed into law what appears to be one of the final nails in the coffin for parental rights in public education; HB24–1039, “Non-Legal Name Changes.” This terrifying new law provides for a public school student to officially change his or her name to a new gender-specific name and requires teachers and staff to address the child by the new chosen name under threat of an illegal discrimination charge. Teachers who believe that a child is engaging in harmful behavior or those who hold beliefs which are contrary to transgenderism will nevertheless either have to comply or be exposed to termination and criminal or civil prosecution. The law doesn’t define how classmates must behave but history has instructed us on the power of peer pressure. And soon the idea of addressing girls with boy’s names and vice versa will become normalized, thereby imposing transgender ideology on every student in every public school building.
Worse still, the law contains no requirement on the part of school staff to notify parents that their child has decided to change his or her name. However, once parents discover that their child has been “transitioning” without their knowledge or consent, they too may be coerced into compliance. In Colorado and other states, we have already witnessed attacks on parents and families as Child Protective Services has been called-in by public school administrators to deal with parents who are deemed “unsupportive” because they encourage their child to hold to their gender at the time of conception and birth. Many of these children have been removed from their home by CPS and the family left irretrievably broken. Many of these children often go on to suffer permanent psychological harm and even irreparable sexual mutilation in transgender surgeries.
For those individuals who have maintained for years that “these things just aren’t really happening at schools“ or who have said these incidents are isolated and not supported by public schools, school boards, or legislators, the time has come to realize that it has indeed arrived in full force. And it is now, in fact, the law of the land in Colorado as Governor Polis’ signature demonstrates. The bottom line is that our children are no longer safe in Colorado public or charter schools. When a parent drops off their child at a public school in the morning, they are handing over the moral and sexual welfare of that child and their own parental rights to the teachers and staff. This is not hype. It’s reality. Any parent ignoring this reality jeopardizes the health and future of their own children.
~ John Ebel is the Executive Director of Culture of Life Colorado
