Blaze News investigates: ​Democrats attack parents and parental rights in Colorado



Democratic lawmakers in the Colorado Senate are poised to pass a controversial piece of legislation that would grossly undermine parental rights and compel speech.

House Bill 1312 would, specifically, classify "misgendering" and "deadnaming" as child abuse; define both perceived offenses as discriminatory acts under state law; force schools to honor students' "chosen names" for any reason; and prohibit educational institutions from enforcing sex-based dress codes.

Democrats in the state legislature not only invoked House Rule 16 to kill debate before passing HB 1312 in a party-line vote on April 6 but smeared parental rights organizations critical of the legislation as hate groups on par with the Ku Klux Klan, indicating they were undeserving of consultation by virtue of their opposition.

Leftist lawmakers' latest attack on parental rights in the Centennial State might have largely gone under the radar had they not also viciously attacked those parents who expressed concern. The rhetorical attack has, however, helped draw attention to the legislative attack.

Blaze News reached out to some of those parental groups that Democrats have smeared as hateful and apparently want to ignore as well as to other critics of the "unlawful" legislation.

It appears that what leftists regard as "hatred" is actually an admixture of Americans' fidelity to the U.S. Constitution and their concern over further encroachments on parental rights.

As for the legislation, critics made clear that it will be challenged in the courts if ratified — although Focus on the Family culture and policy analyst Jeff Johnson indicated there was hope yet as of Thursday that the bill could die before reaching Democratic Gov. Jared Polis' desk.

Hatred, redefined

When Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell raised the matter last week of whether non-LGBT parent groups were consulted ahead of the bill's passage in the state House, Rep. Yara Zokaie stated, "A well-stakeholdered bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups," adding, "We don't ask someone passing civil rights legislation to go ask the KKK their opinion."

'Colorado parents should be concerned.'

State Rep. Javier Mabrey later noted, "There's no reason to go to the table with people who are echoing the hateful rhetoric going around about the trans community."

Caldwell told Blaze News in a statement that "equating caring and concerned parents to 'hate groups' and the KKK is typical Democrat propaganda."

"Colorado parents should be concerned," continued Caldwell. "It's not hateful to be outraged by their agenda. We have crossed the Rubicon for parental rights in this state."

Blaze News reached out to Zokaie and Mabrey as well to Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie (D), the office of Gov. Jared Polis (D), and the Colorado House Democratic Caucus about the Democratic smear of parents across the state. They did not respond by deadline.

The El Paso County chapter of Moms for Liberty is among the groups critical of the legislation that were not consulted and then smeared as hateful by the Democratic lawmakers.

Chapter chair Kristy Davis clarified to Blaze News that Moms for Liberty's opposition to HB 1312 isn't rooted in hatred but rather in the U.S. Constitution. After all, the Democratic bill "infringes on parental rights and compels speech."

"Our advocacy for parental rights is rooted in the U.S. Constitution and should never be labeled as 'hate,'" wrote Davis. "We strive to ensure that all parents' rights are protected, and we oppose HB25-1312, which seeks to use legislation to separate parents from their children."

"Sections 2 and 3 [of HB 1312] represent government overreach by mandating the judicial system to apply transgender ideology in custody cases, while Sections 4, 5, and 6 force policies that limit parental authority over their children's names and gender expression," wrote Davis. "This legislation appears to be anti-family, pushing an agenda that appeals to only a fraction of Colorado taxpayers. It is harmful to both parents and children, creating unnecessary stress, fear, and separation and negatively impacting their mental health."

Davis, who has faced apparent threats online in recent months, noted that "parents have every right to be concerned about policies that affect their children's well-being and their ability to make decisions for their families."

'We hate that children are getting sterilized and mutilated.'

Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Culture Project and executive director at the Educational Freedom Institute, told Blaze News that Zokaie "let the mask slip."

"She detests parents who disagree with her so much that she doubled down on comparing them to the KKK," said DeAngelis. "Colorado Democrats are control freaks trying to force their insane ideology onto the rest of society. Colorado Democrats want to punish parents who don't accept the delusions of a small child."

"They're stomping on the rights of parents and hoping no one notices," added DeAngelis.

Alvin Lui is the president of the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit — a group that has furnished some parents in the state and elsewhere with tools to tackle gender ideology and has, along with Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, been designated an "extremist group" by the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center. Lui told Blaze News that his group has neutralized the "hate group" label in part by adopting it.

"I say, 'Absolutely we are a hate group. 100%. We hate what's happening to children. We hate the people that pass transgender trafficking bills, which is what this HB 1312 is, essentially. We hate that children are getting sterilized and mutilated before they can even get their driver's license,'" said Lui. "'We hate everything that you stand for. We want to run you out of schools. We want to run you out of any political office.'"

'Colorado Democrats just told Virginia's Terry McAuliffe "hold my beer."'

Regardless of what parent groups do with Democrats' "hate" label, its use in the first place is telling.

"What these assertions reveal is a troubling disconnect between some Democrats and the real, everyday concerns of parents," said Davis. "It feels as though they're dismissing the legitimate worries of moms and dads who simply want to have a say in their children's well-being. Parents are the ones who know their children best, and when they speak up, they should be heard — not labeled as radicals or adversaries."

Battle lost, war undecided

"Colorado Democrats just told Virginia's Terry McAuliffe 'hold my beer,'" DeAngelis told Blaze News. "Mr. McAuliffe, a Democrat, lost his race for governor after revealing he didn't want parents to have a say in their children's education."

McAuliffe was governor of Virginia from 2014 until 2018. He ran again for governor in 2021. Whereas his opponent, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), championed parental rights — particularly parents' prime authority over their children's education — the former Democratic governor signaled a desire for a difference balance of power.

During a gubernatorial debate in September 2021, McAuliffe stated, "I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision."

At the time, the battle over critical race theory and LGBT propaganda in the classroom was a hot-button issue for Virginia parents.

"I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach," added McAuliffe.

Youngkin handily beat the critic of parental authority and remains governor of the state.

With McAuliffe's defeat in mind, DeAngelis told Blaze News, "Colorado Republicans should follow Glenn Youngkin's playbook and capitalize on this issue. They need to fight back to rescue parents from socialist takeover."

Numerous Republican lawmakers in the state Senate — where they are outnumbered 23-12 — have indicated they will oppose the legislation, which as of April 9 had not been assigned to a committee.

In a statement shared with Blaze News, Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen (R) noted that "HB25-1312 undermines one of the most sacred and time-honored principles of our society: the right of parents to raise their children in accordance with their values, beliefs, and faith."

"When government policies attempt to substitute the judgment of bureaucrats for that of parents, we risk eroding a foundational pillar of liberty and personal responsibility," added Lundeen.

'Colorado used to be very red.'

Lundeen insinuated that the legislation would not only undermine the "sacred right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children without unjust interference," but "pave the way for future intrusions into how families educate, discipline, or spiritually guide their children."

Lundeen vowed to "stand firmly" against the bill and comparable legislation.

While Republicans could, as DeAngelis suggested, capitalize on this issue, it will take time to gain ground in the state legislature.

Both Brittany Vessely, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, and Jeff Johnson of Focus on the Family separately told Blaze News that Colorado's political capture by leftists was decades in the making, orchestrated in part by a cabal of billionaires who poured billions of dollars into the state to strategically flip local districts.

"Colorado used to be very red," Vessely told Blaze News. "It was more of a libertarian state — very rancher-dominated."

"But [entrepreneur] Tim Gill, Jared Polis, and a couple others poured money into the state and flipped these districts," said Johnson. "Once Democrats had control, they passed legislation that appealed to the left, to radicals."

The legalization of marijuana, the promise of other forms of social deregulation, and the state's general leftward shift apparently drew multitudes of radicals to the state, especially from California.

"So there's just been, in the last 10 years specifically, a huge move from Colorado being very red to purple for a while to now being dominated with majorities of progressive Democrats in both chambers and an LGBTQ progressive governor and very progressive courts," said Vessely. "So we have a trifecta in Colorado in the legislation where parental rights are being completely violated."

'HB 1312 is going to end up in litigation.'

The disconnect between leftist lawmakers and traditional Coloradans has been enough to drive majorities in numerous counties to vote either to break away and form their own state, "North Colorado," or to become part of Wyoming.

For the time being, they are stuck with lawmakers who are keen to undermine parental rights; to force them to fund abortion; to bar health benefit insurance plans from denying or limiting coverage for sex-change mutilations; and to keep up the lies about transvestites' sexes even after death.

From Polis' desk to the courts

Opponents of HB 1312 do not presently have sufficient time to change the state of play politically; hence the ongoing discussions of legal action.

Colorado state Rep. Brandi Bradley (R), for instance, vowed to sue and "keep suing" if the bill succeeds, stating, "I've birthed five children" and "will protect them to the Nth degree."

Brittany Vessely told Blaze News that "HB 1312 is going to end up in litigation because it directly impedes upon the religious freedom of conscience and expression for all Coloradans across the state but especially for the faith-based community."

Vessely explained that the public accommodation section of HB 1312 requiring compliance with gender ideology-based speech codes refers to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act — the law at issue in the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis decided by the Supreme Court in 2023 — which was amended in 2021 to add the terms "gender expression" and "gender identity" to statutes prohibiting discrimination against members of a protected class.

While there is a religious exemption in the state anti-discrimination law, Vessely indicated it really protects only places like parishes and church halls — not diocesan offices, not Catholic schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, or cemeteries.

"These are areas where a lot of our Catholic ministries are going to be directly impacted by the effects of this bill," said Vessely, adding that Christian publications could similarly be impacted.

Jeff Johnson suggested to Blaze News that HB 1312 is clearly unconstitutional and fit for a challenge, adding that he has never seen a piece of legislation "try to do so many things at once."

"So you have the attack on parents' rights, which is unconstitutional," said Johnson. "The Supreme Court has said over and over again that parents have the right to raise their children — they're the ones in charge of their nurture and care and education — and this bill basically usurps that and says, 'No, it's abusive if a parent doesn't go along with the child's sexual identity confusion.'"

Johnson noted that while the bill presently targets court decisions in custody cases, once so-called "deadnaming and misgendering" have been "defined as abusive in this realm, it would be pretty easy for regulations to follow along saying, 'Hey, if you're not affirming your child's sexual identity confusion, that's abusive in any case. And [Child Protective Services] could step in and start taking children away."

In addition to standing on shaky ground because of the abuse classification, Johnson said that HB 1312 is vulnerable to legal challenges both because it tells the court to ignore other states' court mandates regarding parenting and because "it also coerces speech, requiring schools and businesses and employees to agree to the idea that a man can become a woman or a woman can become a man, and it forces people to use a person's 'chosen name' and pronouns rather than going by the biological sex."

'They're waking up to the agenda, and they're saying, "No."'

Courage Is a Habit's Lui suggested that besides legal challenges, Coloradans also have the choice of civil disobedience.

"They can arrest one or two people" for reality-affirming language, said Lui. "They're not going to arrest 1,000 people. They're not going to arrest 5,000 people for calling a man a man."

"It's not an easy answer once you get to this point," continued the parental rights advocate. "Once you make fear a habit, they keep pushing you until they've got you over a barrel. And that's why we always remind people: You got to make courage a habit."

Vesseley noted that while the pro-life cause is presently facing neglect, especially at the federal level, there is a "tremendous amount of momentum right now for the parents in those organizations that are fighting back against the LGBTQ narrative that's happening, especially in schools. We're seeing that across the nation."

Johnson suggested that Democrats have unwittingly awoken the sleeping giant by "trying to get every area of society in Colorado to comply with this agenda."

"I don't know if the pushback is from [the transgender agenda] or if it's the parental rights issue, but I think people are starting to wake up and say, 'A man can't become a woman, a boy can't become a girl, and vice versa.' They're waking up to the agenda, and they're saying, 'No, this is harmful to children and adults, and you can't force me to go along with this,'" said Johnson.

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Beyond politics: NEW survey shows SICKENING trend growing among leftists



The nationwide attack on Tesla has reached a fever pitch. From car bombings to doxxing Tesla owners, the radical leftist stand against Elon Musk is dangerous and getting more so by the day.

A new report from Network Contagion Research Institute, however, is perhaps more indicative of the left’s vitriol for Musk than any singular incident of domestic terrorism against Tesla.

Steve Deace, BlazeTV host of the “Steve Deace Show,” reviews the results of the following poll question: Is murdering Elon Musk and President Trump justified?

The number of left-leaning people who answered yes is grotesque.

Forty-eight percent of people who self-identified as left of center voted yes in varying degrees ranging from somewhat to completely justified for the murder of Elon Musk, while 55% voted yes for President Trump.

Steve is hardly shocked. The left has become the party of violence.

To further illustrate this point, he speaks with Iowa state Representative and Moms for Liberty activist Samantha Fett (R), who is a Christian, about her experience being harassed and threatened by radical leftists.

Fett tells Steve that protesters are “hunting [her] down at [her] church,” displaying signs that read “send her out so we can have our way with her” — a direct reference to Genesis 19, when the men of Sodom demanded Lot overturn the visiting angels so that they could have sex with them.

When Iowa's gender identity bill that sought to remove gender identity protections from the state's civil rights code was being debated, Fett, who played a significant role in the bill’s advancement, had to be accompanied by special security. She was even offered a “soft armor vest to wear” after numerous threats on her life were made.

It’s a “spiritual battle on display,” she says.

Steve argues that so many people don’t understand “how depraved what we're up against really is,” but things like these survey results and Fett’s experiences should be a rallying cry for Christians.

“The level of seething that Samantha has faced is demonstrative of the fact and confirms: This is not about a political ideology; this is a spiritual war,” he says. “Mere political policy differences don’t engender that level of hostility.”

To see more of Steve and Samantha’s conversation, watch the episode above.

Want more from Steve Deace?

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In The Fight Against Transgender Experiments On Kids, Where Are All The Dads?

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School to expel daughter of Moms for Liberty member over a year after teen reported threat: 'Coincidental timing'



A Pennsylvania high school plans to suspend and start the process of expelling the 15-year-old daughter of a Moms for Liberty member more than a year after the teenager reported a threatening message she found written on her desk, according to the Federalist.

The decision to punish the teen, whose name was withheld by the publication because she is a minor, coincided with a tense school board meeting, according to the child's mother, Tricia Plank. The meeting, at least in part, related to an ongoing Moms for Liberty lawsuit that is attempting to block the Biden-Harris administration's proposed rule changes to Title IX, which would allow men to compete in women's sports.

The Plank family is mentioned in the Moms for Liberty complaint.

'If the powers-that-be genuinely thought that these kids were threats, they shouldn't have waited fifteen months to file charges.'

The May court filing states, "Presently, Ms. Plank's children express views about gender identity and transgenderism while in school. To date, they have received scrutiny from teachers and administration but have not received any reprimands or been disciplined for their speech."

In February 2023, the then-13-year-old discovered writing on her desk in pencil that read, "I will bomb this school." Also written on the desk was the word "Gun," with an arrow pointing to the word "Dead," the Federalist reported.

The teen, the last of three students who used the desk during the school day, reported the threatening graffiti seven minutes after arriving in the classroom, according to a police timeline based on the surveillance footage.

She told the Federalist, "I didn't realize that it was on my desk until the teacher was done talking, and she told us to clear our desks. And then once I moved my binders and stuff, then I saw it, and then I raised my hand and I told her."

She further noted that she could not have written the message because it was in cursive, and her class was never given the option to learn cursive writing.

The school principal and vice principal questioned the two other students who also used the desk, and both stated they had not observed any writing earlier in the day. The teen who reported the graffiti was never questioned, according to the Planks.

The police concluded the Planks' daughter was the one who jotted down the threatening message and then made the decision to report her own wrongdoing, the Federalist reported. However, the incident and the looming threat of any repercussions for the alleged crime seemed to ultimately blow over for the remainder of her eighth-grade year.

The teen then entered high school, where she participated in tennis and track and field. Phillip Plank, the teen's father, has coached her in tennis since she was young. She has previously earned a county champion title.

However, a week after Moms for Liberty filed the lawsuit to stop changes to Title IX, the school suddenly revived the threatening graffiti case.

The Planks' daughter is now facing pending charges of terroristic threats and institutional vandalism in the juvenile justice system after a handwriting analysis found that she was "capable of having produced this text."

In the middle of summer vacation leading up to the teen's sophomore year of high school and 72 weeks after the reported incident, the principal called the Planks to notify them that the school would move forward with the plans to suspend and expel their daughter.

Tricia Plank, who joined the school board in December 2023, asked to meet with the superintendent to request that her daughter's suspension wait until after the tennis season so as not to hurt her college prospects. The superintendent agreed to pause the suspension to allow the teen to participate in tennis.

In August, the school board held a meeting that turned contentious over a discussion about sexualized literature in the school library. Both Tricia Plank and the superintendent attended the meeting but held opposing views on the issue.

The following day, the school's attorney contacted the Planks' lawyer, Paul B. Royer, informing him that the school would be moving forward with their daughter's suspension and expulsion, preventing her from playing tennis.

The Planks called it "coincidental timing."

Several days before the teen found the graffiti on her desk, her younger sister was accused of a similar, unrelated incident. The then-11-year-old girl was reportedly in the school bathroom with several other students. A bomb threat was written on the wall, but no one saw who transcribed it. The girl faces similar charges from police and the school for the incident.

Royer told the Federalist, "My clients look forward to defending themselves and letting both the juvenile justice system and school disciplinary procedure play out."

"The evidence will show that these kids never threatened anyone, were never a threat, are not currently threats, and if the powers-that-be genuinely thought that these kids were threats, they shouldn't have waited fifteen months to file charges," he added.

The superintendent did not reply to a request for comment from the Federalist.

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High School To Expel Tennis Star For Reporting Desk Graffiti In Junior High

Politics or punishment? As her Moms for Liberty mother makes waves on school board

Pennsylvania College of Technology Implements New Title IX Rule Despite Court Reprieve

A U.S. district court found that the 'Final Rule' 'violates the First Amendment by chilling speech through vague and overbroad language.'

NYC moms file federal lawsuit against leftist education officials who allegedly punish those with dissenting views



Three elected parent leaders are suing radical New York City education officials for allegedly "weaponizing their disdain" against those who refuse to embrace leftist beliefs and speech codes.

The Institute of Free Speech filed a complaint in federal court last week on behalf of Deborah Alexander, Maud Maron, and Noah Harlan, stressing that the "First Amendment does not allow New York City's Department of Education to function as a Department of Conformity."

The suit alleges that Community Educational Council for District 14 President Tajh Sutton and Vice President Marissa Manzanares have brought their political prejudices to bear in their official roles, adopting tyrannical tactics that adversely impact the plaintiffs' liberties. The leftist duo's campaign against dissenters has allegedly been helped along by New York Public Schools Chancellor David Banks and NYPS equity compliance offier Nina Mickens, also named as defendants.

Sutton is a radical leftist and identitarian who has called for police to be defunded, has championed COVID-19 vaccines and masking for children, and serves as a steering committee member of Black Lives Matter at School NY. Manzanares is a fellow traveler, similarly censorious and hostile to dissenting views. Both have apparently turned CEC 14 into a vehicle for their respective ideological agendas.

"Sutton and Manzanares exclude people affiliated with disfavored advocacy groups from the Council's public meetings, block critics from accessing the Council's social media pages, and impose a far-reaching political speech code on public debate," the complaint alleges. "And while New York City's Department of Education leaves Sutton and Manzanares free to impose their viewpoints on everyone else, it subjects Community Education Council and Citywide Council members who dissent from official orthodoxy to investigation and removal."

Alexander and Harlan have apparently been ousted from CEC 14 meetings "owing to their political views." Maron refrains from attending meetings because she is both a co-founder of Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education NYC and a member of Moms for Liberty, both of "which are evidently the prime targets of CEC 14's discriminatory exclusion policy."

"Even if they could gain admission, anything that Plaintiffs might say at CEC 14 meetings would likely be prohibited under CEC 14's speech code," adds the complaint.

The New York Post reported last year that CEC 14, under Sutton and Manzanares' lead, promoted a Nov. 9 student walkout and corresponding anti-Israel rally where kids yelled "f**k the Jews!"

At a meeting concerning the CEC 14 promotion of the protest, a concerned father questioned the radical groups CEC 14 had partnered with, including Youth for Palestine. Manzanares reportedly told him, "Redirect yourself or you will be removed."

A Jewish father expressed concerns over the safety of his children in light of the council's anti-Israel posts and accusations of "apartheid," but he too was apparently silenced and castigated.

Raving anti-Semites were, alternatively, permitted to speak their minds.

"After the CEC D14 meeting on Wednesday night, it feels clear to me: The inmates are running the asylum," Brooklyn mother Lisa Liss, who pulled her kids out of District 14, told the Post. "The unchecked, outrageous anti-Semitic abuse hurled at D14 community members can only be described as insane."

The CEC 14 Instagram page is loaded with identitarian, anti-Israel, and other leftist content.

Weeks after Hamas terrorists slaughtered thousands of Israelis and scores of Americans, the council under Sutton stated, "We condemn settler colonialism, militarized violence in furtherance of the continued occupation of Palestinians, and always condemn innocent people being murdered. We condemn any acts by the U.S. government to escalate the current situation by further militarizing Israel and we reject the statements of various leaders describing the ongoing human rights violations in Gaza as 'self defense.'"

The council further demanded a ceasefire and the "liberation of the Palestinian people."

The mothers' lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, makes clear that Sutton and Manzanares are not alone in clamping down on the elected parent leaders' rights. The New York City Department of Education, named as a defendant in the suit, apparently also bears blame for its regulation D-210, "a vague, overbroad, and viewpoint-discriminatory speech code."

D-210 has apparently been used to great effect by DOE ideologues.

For instance, Maron faces multiple D-210 investigations over private speech at odds with the favored viewpoints of the powers that be. Maron's offending speech appears to have been her condemnation of Hamas propaganda, her suggestion that the "anti-racists are so racist," and her concerns over the subjection of children to mutilating sex-change procedures.

When some of the messages under investigation were brought to Banks' attention, he allegedy threatened her position.

The suit underscores that the regulation used to clamp down on the speech of Maron and others is "unconstitutionally vague. No reasonably intelligent person can guess at what speech Defendants might find to constitute 'frequent verbal abuse' or unnecessary aggresive speech.'"

"Regulation D-210's prohibition of 'disrespect' is likewise unconstitutionally vague, as is its prohibtion of speech that is 'derogatory' or 'offensive.' These are all subjective values," continued the suit.

The enforcement of the regulation allegedly "deprive[s] Plaintiffs of the rights to free speech and due process in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendmends to the United States Constitution."

The mothers are not looking for a payday as a result of their legal action. Rather they only want nominal damages of $17.91 each. Their ultimate aim is the neutralizing of D-210 and an end to the discriminatory practices they've become familiar with in District 14.

"The First Amendment guarantees the right to criticize public officials and speak freely on matters of public concern. Yet, CEC 14 leaders have used school resources to promote their own extreme political views while excluding critics from public meetings and blocking them on social media," said Alan Gura, vice president for litigation at the Institute for Free Speech.

"Meanwhile, the DOE’s Regulation D-210 subjects elected parent leaders to inquisitorial investigations and threats of removal from office for 'wrongthink,'" continued Gura. "We're asking the court to put a stop to these unconstitutional actions and protect the free speech rights of all New Yorkers."

The New York Post indicated that CEC 14 had yet to respond to its request for comment.

"We Are Not Your Props" May Day Rally in Harlem, Parent, CEC 14 President Tajh Sutton Speaks!youtu.be

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