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Denver, CO — Colorado House and Senate members’ recent actions to suppress and chill speech during public comment time on HB24-1071, dubbed “Tiara's Law,” represent an alarming assault on First Amendment rights.
That’s why Institute for Free Speech attorneys filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of the group Gays Against Groomers, the Rocky Mountain Women’s Network, and individuals from those groups affected by this attempt to shut down debate over transgender legislation.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, names Colorado State Representatives Lorena Garcia, Mike Weissman, Leslie Herod, and State Senators Julie Gonzales and Dafna Michaelson Jenet as having unlawfully restricted or chilled speech related to trans issues, particularly as it pertains to debate over what its sponsors called “Tiara’s Law.”
The bill was informally named for Tiara Latrice Kelley, also known as Duane Antonio Kelley. The plaintiffs say Kelley is a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal record and oppose legislation such as HB24-1071 that aims to facilitate name changes for transgender felons. The bill is sparking significant public debate, as name changes can make it far easier for felons to hide their criminal past and might make it easier for them to victimize children or other vulnerable populations.
During recent hearings on the proposed law, some legislative sponsors of the bill and their legislative allies used viewpoint-based speech restrictions to silence and chill the speech of plaintiffs Dr. Rich Guggenheim of the organization Gays Against Groomers and Christina Goeke of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Network. When Guggenheim and Goeke attempted to express their opposition to the bill and dissent from transgender ideology, they were repeatedly interrupted before the defendants cut short their testimony.
Rep. Garcia urged speakers to engage in "respectful discourse" by refraining from using "derogatory language" or "misgendering witnesses." Chair Weissman affirmed these rules, leading Dr. Guggenheim to abandon his place in line at the hearing, fearing his speech would be deemed non-conforming and censored. He was correct. When Goeke attempted to discuss Kelley's criminal history and used Kelley’s legal name and male pronouns, she was repeatedly interrupted and ultimately had her testimony terminated by Weissman and Herod.
In a particularly egregious example of unconstitutional viewpoint-based censorship, the Senate Judiciary Committee erased portions of Goeke's testimony from the official audio record of its hearing on HB24-1071.
“Americans are having a debate about sex, gender, and pronouns. The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to express their views on those matters, even if those views might be offensive to some," said Del Kolde, Senior Attorney at the Institute for Free Speech. “By forcing speakers to adopt a contested ideology, Colorado lawmakers unlawfully privileged one viewpoint over another and silenced dissent, going so far as to erase it from the public record.”
To read the complaint in Gays Against Groomers, et al. v. Garcia, et al., click here.
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