A Senate committee killed a bill Wednesday that would have made it easier for transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificates, even if they did not have surgery.
The legislation, which passed the Democratic-controlled House, was assigned to a committee in the Republican-controlled Senate where bills often go to die.
The State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee killed the bill, which would have allowed people to change the gender on their birth certificate with a note from a medical or mental health professional stating they were undergoing surgical, hormonal or other treatment.
It meant that someone could have had the physical body parts of one gender but a birth certificate with the opposite gender. Proponents said the bill would have put Colorado law in line with federal requirements for changing passports and with modern medical understanding that not all transgender people want or can have gender reassignment surgery.
“Our bill died on a party-line vote because a few Senate Republicans put party politics ahead of the lives of transgender Coloradans and their families,” One Colorado executive director Dave Montez said. “They must be held accountable.”
