LGBTQ EQUALITY 2017 LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD HOW DO YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS SCORE WHEN IT COMES TO GUARANTEEING A FAIR AND JUST STATE FOR LGBTQ COLORADANS AND THEIR FAMILIES? ONE COLORADO’S LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD highlights the priorities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Coloradans and their families in the 2017 legislative session. In this scorecard, you will find accurate, nonpartisan information on bills related to LGBTQ equality and how each member of the legislature voted on issues that affect Colorado’s LGBTQ community. USE THIS SCORECARD to find out if your elected officials’ votes align with your values of advancing equality for LGBTQ Coloradans. For more information, you can visit WWW.ONE-COLORADO.ORG. During the 2017 legislative session, we saw a number of victories for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families that were the product of successful, bipartisan cooperation. However, other measures that would have dramatically improved the lives of LGBTQ people were defeated—including a ban on the harmful and discredited practice of conversion therapy and a bill to make it less burdensome for transgender Coloradans to update the gender on their birth certificates. We also saw attempts to roll back protections for LGBTQ Coloradans, in the form of religious exemptions proposals, which were fortunately defeated in both chambers of the Colorado Legislature. WERE YOUR LEGISLATORS CHAMPIONS FOR LGBTQ EQUALITY THIS YEAR? Call or email them to thank them. Alternatively, if you aren’t satisfied with how your representatives and senators voted on this year’s scorecard, you can call, email, send a letter, or attend their town hall meetings to let them know how you feel. Between now and the end of the year, One Colorado will be making sure voters across the state know how their legislators voted on LGBTQ equality. If you want to help us hold our elected officials accountable, sign up to volunteer with us at WWW.ONE-COLORADO.ORG/VOLUNTEER. NEED TO FIND OUT WHO YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS ARE? Visit WWW.OPENSTATES.ORG/FIND_YOUR_LEGISLATOR. LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 2 WITH THE HELP OF OUR MEMBERS IN 2017, ONE COLORADO: Sent 10,564 letters to legislators Held 350 in-person legislator meetings Made 2,758 calls into legislators offices Generated 133 news stories, on TV and in newspapers across the state, on our priority proposals Brought 96 people to the capitol to testify LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 3 RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS Over the past three years, there have been numerous efforts across the country to pass religious exemption laws that would allow individuals to claim their religion gives them permission to pick and choose which laws to follow. Religious freedom is important, which is why the First Amendment to our Constitution already protects it, but that freedom does not give anyone the right to harm others. This year, we saw two attempts to roll back protections for LGBTQ Coloradans in the form of vague religious exemption measures. HOUSE BILL 1013 CONCERNING A PERSON’S FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION This bill would have allowed businesses and individuals to claim that their religion gives them permission to exempt themselves from laws they don’t want to follow. House Bill 1013 was so broadly written that it would create exemptions for virtually anything that a person could contend is part of their religion and make our laws harder to follow. Bill Sponsors: Representatives Dave Williams and Stephen Humphrey, Senators Tim Neville and Vicki Marble House Vote: Failed 6-3 in State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee SENATE BILL 283 CLARIFY DISCRIMINATION AND RIGHT TO DISAGREE This bill would have allowed businesses and individuals to claim that any belief, including their religion, exempts them from non-discrimination laws they don’t want to follow. Senate Bill 283 was more broadly written than previous discriminatory laws that caused economic backlash in Indiana and North Carolina. Sponsors: Senator Kevin Lundberg Senate Committee Vote: Passed 3-2 • Senate Floor Vote: Failed 19-15 on division LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 4 TRANSGENDER EQUALITY Understanding what it’s like to be transgender can be hard, especially if you have never met a transgender person, but every transgender person deserves to be treated fairly and with respect. Most states offer no legal protections in housing, employment, or health care for individuals who experience discrimination based on their gender identity or expression. Thankfully, Colorado law protects transgender people from discrimination in these areas, but Colorado law still makes it burdensome for transgender Coloradans to obtain identity documents that match who they are. HOUSE BILL 1122 BIRTH CERTIFICATE MODERNIZATION ACT This bill would have made the process less burdensome for transgender Coloradans to update the gender on their birth certificate by removing the requirement that a transgender Coloradan undergo surgery and then obtain a court order from a judge. House Bill 1122 would have also brought Colorado law in line with current federal policy for updating the gender on a passport or Social Security card. Transgender people whose birth certificates reflect their sex at birth – and not their current gender – risk being denied housing, employment opportunities, and the right to vote because of this discrepancy. Bill Sponsors: Representative Daneya Esgar, Senator Dominick Moreno House Vote: Passed 37-26-2 • Senate Vote: Failed 3-2 in State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 5 LGBTQ HEALTH While lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Coloradans face many of the same health care challenges as the general population, they also encounter unique obstacles to fulfilling their specific health needs. Affordability, access, and quality issues confront LGBTQ Coloradans as a whole, and transgender people are often the most vulnerable. An equitable health care system in Colorado can be achieved, but only if disparities are clearly identified and action is taken to eliminate them. During this legislative session, a bill was introduced to protect LGBTQ young people from the harmful practice of conversion therapy along with an unsuccessful effort to defund the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which supports the needs of students across Colorado. HOUSE BILL 1156 BAN ON CONVERSION THERAPY Conversion therapy – sometimes referred to as “reparative therapy,” “ex-gay therapy,” or “sexual orientation change efforts” – includes a range of dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. These harmful practices are based on the false claim that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer is a mental illness that should be cured. Unfortunately, many young people are coerced and subjected to these harmful practices, which put them at risk for depression, substance abuse, and suicide. House Bill 1156 would have prohibited state-licensed mental health care providers in Colorado from practicing conversion therapy on anyone under the age of 18. Bill Sponsors: Representative Paul Rosenthal, Senator Steve Fenberg House Vote: Passed 38-27 • Senate: Failed 3-2 in State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee AMENDMENT TO THE STATE BUDGET DEFUNDING THE HEALTHY KIDS COLORADO SURVEY The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey is a voluntary, anonymous survey that provides the state with vital information about the health and wellbeing of Colorado’s middle and high school students. The information in the survey helps government agencies address the challenges students across Colorado face, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students. Senate Vote: Failed 18-17 LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 6 PROTECTING LGBTQ COLORADANS Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Coloradans deserve to be protected from harassment, discrimination, and violence no matter where they live. During this legislative session, a bill was introduced to add sexual orientation, gender identity, and physical or mental disability to Colorado’s bias-motivated harassment statutes and, in an unprecedented action, the Colorado State Senate rejected an LGBTQ Coloradan’s appointment to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. HOUSE BILL 1188 CONCERNING BIAS-MOTIVATED HARASSMENT This bill adds physical or mental disability and sexual orientation (including transgender status) to the protected categories in the harassment statute to make the statute consistent with Colorado’s existing law concerning bias-motivated crimes. Bill Sponsors: Representative Mike Foote, Senators Dominick Moreno and Don Coram House Vote: Passed 48-15-2 • Senate Committee Vote: Passed 5-0 • Senate Floor Vote: Passed 23-12 Signed by Governor: May 3, 2017 CONFIRMATION OF HEIDI HESS TO THE COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION In a rare move, the Colorado State Senate voted to not confirm Heidi Hess – who is One Colorado’s part-time, Western Slope Field Organizer – to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Heidi has served on the Commission for over 4 years, and is currently its chair. As a proud, out, lesbian, Heidi’s work has been crucial in building public support for civil unions and the freedom to marry on the Western Slope. Over the past decade, she has been responsible for building a connected and robust community of LGBTQ people and allies in her community. Senate Vote: Failed 17-18 LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 7 2017 HOUSE VOTES LGBTQ Equality 2017 Legislative Scorecard 8 2017 HOUSE VOTES