Colorado Governor Jared Polis on Friday
signed a bill into law that prohibits therapies that attempt to alter
the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender youth, making Colorado the 18th state with
such a law.
Such therapies go by names such as
“conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy,” “sexual
orientation change efforts” or “ex-gay therapy.”
Polis, the nation's first openly gay
elected governor, also signed legislation that streamlines the
process for transgender individuals to change their gender marker on
their birth certificates.
Polis said that the legislation shows
the progress Colorado has made since it enacted Amendment 2, the
constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1992 that prohibited
protected status based on sexual orientation. The Supreme Court in a
landmark 6-3 decision in Romer v. Evans struck down the law as
unconstitutional.
“In just 27 years, we’ve had a
remarkable transformation from when we were derogatorily called the
‘hate states’ to a place where the rights of all Coloradans are
respected, where we have a strong LGBTQ caucus in our state
legislature, where we move forward with valued contributions that
every Coloradan makes regardless of their race, regardless of their
gender, regardless of their orientation, regardless of their gender
identity,” Polis told a group of LGBT supporters.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, cheered the news, calling
Friday “a great day for progress.”
“Today, we witnessed the nation’s
first openly gay man elected governor, Gov. Jared Polis, sign into
law two pro-equality pieces of legislation, including a bill that
protects LGBTQ youth in the state from the dangerous, debunked
practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’” HRC President Chad
Griffin said in a statement. “Governor Polis has been a
trailblazing champion for LGBTQ rights and representation, both in
Colorado and for LGBTQ people across the nation. While there is much
work to be done to ensure that all of us are treated equally under
the law, this is a great day for progress – for Colorado and for
our community.”
Similar laws have been enacted in 17
states plus the District of Columbia, including California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York,
Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont. Maine's
law was signed by Governor Janet Mills on Wednesday.
(Related: Puerto
Rico governor signs order banning “ex-gay” therapy.)