This week in Colorado politics saw a bill in front of a state senate committee that would allow transgender Coloradans to change the gender on their birth certificate.
To me, this is a common sense matter. It's a matter that doesn't affect anyone other than the person wanting to make the change official. Right now the process is pretty close to a nightmare. including needing to get a court order.
I quickly learned that the parts of this bill that freak people out are in the details. After I sent a tweet about being disappointed that this bill did not make it out of a Republican-majority committee, I quickly received this from someone who doesn't live in Colorado:
"people w/ penises dont get to change their B.C. to female. Wanna change it? remove the boy bits, morons"
I asked her a question about the bill and about who she was referring to as a moron. Her response didn't include who the moron was but did inform me that this bill allows folks in transition to make the change.
That freaks some people out. After reading about this, I totally get why someone in transition would want to already have their birth certificate changed. Documentation is very important when transitioning and the birth certificate is a huge part of that.
The clear issue for me is that this bill would make life easier for the one person who is transitioning. It has no affect on anyone else.
What is also clear to me after reading testimony against this bill is that some people just don't like trans people. As an article from the Colorado Independent about the bill not passing through committee exclaimed, "Transgender birth certificate bill crashes against anti-gay lobby." One of those testifying against the bill was from the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-gay, "religious freedom" group based in Arizona.
I hope this bill comes back next year.
Thanks for reading.
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