Civil Liberties - Rocky Mountain Voice

Jacques: Colorado’s speech police aren’t protecting rights—they’re punishing dissent

USA Today, Approved, Commentary, State / June 12, 2025 / Civil Liberties, Compelled Speech, First amendment, Free Speech, Gender Identity Laws, Gender Ideology, HB25-1312, Legal Challenges, Parental Rights, Transgender

You’d think that after two significant losses at the U.S. Supreme Court, Colorado would tread more carefully with its anti-discrimination laws.

No such luck.

A new law, signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in May, expands the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to make deadnaming and misgendering transgender individuals a punishable offense. California, not surprisingly, has tried something similar but on a more limited basis.

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The COvid Chronicles May 16–23, 2020: Deaths dipped—but the definition got slippery

Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories / May 31, 2025 / Civil Liberties, Colorado economy, Coroner Reports, Data Privacy, Education Disruption, Government overreach, Governor Jared Polis, Lauren Boebert, Mail Voting, Medical Privacy, Pandemic Policies, Public Health Overreach, religious liberty, Small Business Impact, The COvid Chronicles

More than two months into government-mandated shutdowns, Coloradans had lost patience—and begun reclaiming their fearlessness. After surrendering jobs, shuttering schools, isolating loved ones, and forfeiting springtime rites of faith and family, many started asking the obvious: What was all this really for?

Yes, people had gotten sick. Yes, some had died—mostly the elderly and already ill. But the fear campaign pushed by Gov. Jared Polis, unelected bureaucrats, and a compliant media no longer matched what Coloradans saw with their own eyes.

The warm May sun only strengthened their resolve. As COVID numbers flatlined and trust in “death counts” crumbled, clear-eyed citizens began asking hard questions—and the answers were ugly. Behind the briefings and sanitized soundbites, the state was quietly reclassifying deaths, inflating the data, and overriding doctors who dared to dissent.

The COvid Chronicles May 16–23, 2020: Deaths dipped—but the definition got slippery Read More »

Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment

denvergazette.com, Approved, State / May 23, 2025 / Civil Liberties, Compelled Speech, Deadnaming, First amendment, Free Speech, Gender Ideology, HB25-1312, Misgendering, Parental Rights, Religious freedom

Several organizations and a western Colorado dermatologist have filed a lawsuit seeking to block specific provisions of a recently signed state law that, as originally introduced, would have defined “deadnaming” and “misgendering” as discriminatory acts but whose final version had been heavily modified.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Defending Education, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, and Do No Harm. Travis Morrell, a Grand Junction dermatologist and member of Do No Harm, is also a plaintiff.

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