Parent groups booted from suit over Colorado trans antidiscrimination law

A federal judge said the advocacy groups did not have standing because they do not provide goods or services that could be denied to the public in a discriminatory way.(CN) — A federal judge has dismissed claims from three parent advocacy groups seeking to enjoin a Colorado transgender antidiscrimination law — though similar claims from Christian organizations have survived for now.Accepting the recommendations of a magistrate judge, U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez said the parent groups lacked standing to challenge a 2025 provision of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.“In order to even fall within the confines of the CADA’s enforcement, a plaintiff must provide goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation,” the Joe Biden appointee explained in a 28-page order on Friday. The parent groups don’t do any of that — and therefore, they can’t sue.A group of retailers, medical providers and parent advocacy organizations sued in three separate lawsuits. In her order, Rodriguez said the commercial and medical plaintiffs could proceed with their claims for now, as unlike the parents, they’d established a credible threat of enforcement.With the Kelly Loving Act in 2025, Colorado lawmakers added a definition of the term “chosen name” to the decades-old Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act or CADA. The 2025 law is named after a victim of that year’s mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.In their lawsuits, the plaintiffs claimed the law criminalized misgendering and deadnaming — that is, addressing a person by the name they used before they transitioned genders. The groups said misgendering and deadnaming reflected their sincerely held beliefs about gender being immutable and determined at birth.To date, no plaintiff has claimed that the act has been enforced against them.In a filing February, the state clarified it does not intend to pursue discrimination claims over speech alone. Instead, Colorado officials say the law “only prohibits [misgendering and deadnaming] when it rises to the level of harassment" or discrimination of a protected class.Nonetheless, Rodriguez said “the government’s reluctance to disavow future prosecution” was enough for the medical and commercial groups’ claims to proceed for now. She said state prosecutors had a duty to enforce the law and that “even under Colorado Civil Rights Division’s heightened harassment standard, plaintiffs’ intended conduct could be found to violate CADA.”Unlike doctors or businesses, the parent advocacy groups do not offer goods, services or privileges that would open them up to prosecution under the law, Rodriguez found.Colorado Parent Advocacy Network and Protect Kids Colorado both host public events in places of public accommodation, but they are not themselves places of public accommodation that can then discriminate against members of the public. She reached essentially the same conclusion for Defending Education, a group of parents, students and concerned citizens who oppose what they call “harmful gender ideology.”First adopted in the 1970s, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act has provided protections against gender discrimination for nearly 20 years. Neither side replied to requests for comment by press time.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads