DENVER (LifeSiteNews) — A conservative member of the Colorado legislature delivered a stirring exhortation to his Democrat colleagues who passed a pro-transgender bill which tramples on parental rights: “Stop putting yourselves – the government – between us parents and our children!”
Regarding HB25-1312, the so-called “Protections for Transgender Individuals” act, Rep. Jarvis Caldwell spoke out boldly on the floor of the Colorado House of Representatives after his amendment requiring parental consent for school staff to implement gender-confused student name changes failed.
“Now let me be clear to the members in here: In my family, names have a meaning. There’s a tradition there,” said Caldwell in a video posted on X.
“I named my children. Who are any of you to tell me that my child can go to school and change their name without my knowledge?” he asked. “Who are any of you to say that?”
I gave them their names. I was there when they were born. I was there when they said their first words and took their first steps. I was there on their first day of school and I will be there on their last day of school. And I will be there when they have children of their own and they name their children. And God willing, my children will be by my side as I lay on my deathbed and take my last breath on this Earth.”
Not a single person in this room will be.
“Stop putting yourselves – the government – between us parents and our children,” he demanded. “We’re sick and tired of it.”
“It’s not about hating [so-called] trans people. It’s not about any of that,” he explained. “It’s about putting yourselves in between us and our kids.”
“We’re sick and tired of it,” he reiterated, “and that’s why we have fought this bill. I want you to think about that.”
“We received thousands of emails, thousands of phone calls. Not because thousands of people around Colorado hate [so-called] trans people,” he continued. “It’s because they’re sick of the bills we’re passing infringing on their rights. And this perhaps might be the most egregious we’ve seen so far.”
“It is not about hate,” he said again. “It is about love, the love I have for my kids.”
“God willing, my kids will be by my side as I lay on my deathbed & take my last breaths on this Earth. NONE of you will be! YOU don’t care more about my kids than ME.”
We fought HB25-1312, Colorado. Silenced every step of the way. It’s in @GovofCO hands now. #copolitics #coleg pic.twitter.com/H8NvgrcIHB
— Rep. Jarvis Caldwell (@RepCaldwell) May 7, 2025
Colorado Senate Minority Paul Lundeen said on Tuesday that the legislation “creates a system where schools and state agencies become the arbiter of deeply personal family decisions.”
“By mandating inclusive name policies, enforcing gender neutral dress codes, enlisting the (Colorado Civil Rights Division) to police speech, this bill risks transforming schools and courts into areas where the state overrides parental authority,” said Lundeen. “We must not allow government to intrude into and fracture the trust between parents and children.”
In the lead-up to the Colorado Senate’s passage of the bill on Tuesday, over 670 individuals signed up to testify in opposition to the legislation.
One of those who testified was Erin Lee, who, as reported by DenverCatholic.org, described how her 12-year-old daughter was socially “transitioned” at school without parental knowledge:
She was taught that she could pursue puberty blockers and wrong-sex hormones to fix herself, and coached on how to see an affirming therapist and get a “gender-affirming care” letter at school without my consent. By the time we found out, we were threatened with the suicide myth and bullied with the words, “Would you rather have a living son or a dead daughter?”
Lee said her daughter eventually attempted suicide.
“She is now a healthy, whole 16-year-old girl. Calling my child by her birth name was not malicious harassment or discrimination – it was honest, loving and it saved her from being a lifelong medical patient,” said Lee.
“There is no such thing as a ‘trans child’,” explained Dr. Steve Broman, according to the Denver Catholic report. “That term is an oxymoron. The prefrontal cortex doesn’t fully develop until about age 25. The bottom line is, leave the children alone, because 85 to 95 percent of kids with dysphoria adjust normally by age 21.”
Transgender interventions – which impossibly seek to change a person’s immutable sex – are linked to suicide, heart attack, stroke, infertility, bone problems, and numerous other harms.