ERLC may sue to block Colorado transgender bill

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, or ERLC, may sue the state of Colorado to block what proponents characterize as a new transgender antidiscrimination law. Daniel Darling, a church engagement strategist for the ERLC, said Sunday that the commission will likely join another party’s legal action against the law. The ERLC also said that the law erodes parental rights and religious liberty, and that it hoped courts would strike the law down quickly.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed the legislation into law on Friday. The law expands the state’s antidiscrimination laws for workplaces, schools, and public accommodations to add a trans-identifying person’s chosen name to the list of protected characteristics. The law also makes it easier for people to change their sex and name on identification documents, and requires public and charter schools to let students follow either sex’s dress code.

Was anything removed from the law’s final version? The legislation originally included a provision that the use of a trans-identifying person’s birth name and pronouns could be classified as coercive control of a child in custody decisions. But lawmakers struck down that provision before sending the bill to the governor’s desk.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report on the law’s contentious legislative process.