Going on offense for parental rights

In late March of 2025, legislators in the Colorado House of Representatives made national news by introducing HB 1312—a bill that ominously defined the act of a parent referring to a child according to that child’s biological sex as “coercive control.” This bill also allowed a trial court to withhold parenting time and even make custody determinations based on “deadnaming” (using a child’s birth name) or “misgendering” a child. Some of these startling provisions were removed from the bill before final passage by the Colorado Senate, but the bill still adds “deadnaming” and “misgendering” to Colorado’s nondiscrimination law. And Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently signed HB 1312 into law.

The legal strategy behind HB 1312 is clear and alarming. It expands the definition of harm, neglect, and even abuse to include a parent raising or referring to a child consistent with that child’s biological sex. And this strategy brings the full weight of the child welfare system down on such parents and often “closes all the exits” as the proceedings are confidential; many of the social workers, mental health advocates, and medical professionals involved in such cases affirm transgender ideology; and relief from appellate courts is often difficult if not impossible to obtain before lasting harm is done to the parent/child relationship.

For example, consider a recent California law that allows a state juvenile court to take temporary custody of a child without a finding of parental neglect or abuse if the child has been unable to obtain “… gender affirming mental health care.” The state of Washington also recently passed a law that allows the state to hide runaway children from their parents if the parents do not consent to their child receiving “… gender affirming treatment.” And Minnesota law now allows a trial court to take emergency jurisdiction of a child from another state if that child has been “… unable to obtain gender-affirming treatment …” and ignore subpoenas from other courts.

These are chilling legal developments for parents that hold to a Biblical view of human sexuality and even parents of other faiths or no faith that recognize the harmful effects of gender medicine and social transitioning.

Fortunately, parents now have a playbook for going on offense to protect their rights. After almost four years of legal and then legislative advocacy including a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Indiana parents who lost custody of their son due to transgender ideology, a separate federal lawsuit against the caseworkers and state agency, and repeated legislative efforts, parental rights advocates in Indiana finally procured the passage of HB 1412.

This law, signed by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on May 1, 2025, states simply: “Child abuse or neglect does not include raising or referring to a child in a manner consistent with the child’s biological sex.” And “[a] child is not a child in need of services [the legal status of a child in Indiana’s foster care system] under any section of this chapter due to the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian referring to and raising the child consistent with the child’s biological sex.”

This law appears to be the first of its kind (determined after a national search) and provides direction to all mandated reporters of child abuse, workers in the state child welfare agency, and juvenile court judges. And it stands in direct contrast to HB 1312 in Colorado and laws in California, Washington, and Minnesota. Meanwhile, a model law called the Defining Child Abuse Protection Act, developed by the Heritage Foundation, would create even more comprehensive protections for parents. The model law was created by a national working group of attorneys, and it provides sample provisions on child custody, child welfare, preventing child alienation by school officials or social workers, and even training and accountability for workers in state child welfare agencies.

Christians and especially church leaders should see recent legal developments in Colorado and Minnesota as a direct interference with the disciple-making mandate of the home and church, and broad coalitions of unlikely allies may make laws like Indiana’s feasible in even “blue” or more liberal states. Loving parents should not be forced to choose between their conscience and their children, and now is the time for parents to push back to protect their rights.