(Colorado Newsline) Two Coloradans who intentionally misgendered transgender people while they testified against a bill are suing the legislators who cut them off and asked them to be respectful.

The initial complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado in early April claims the legislators named as defendants violated the plaintiffs’ right to free speech by stopping them from misgendering and deadnaming transgender people during their testimony. A hearing has yet to be scheduled in the case.

“The First Amendment does not allow defendants to force their ideological beliefs on plaintiffs in this manner,” the complaint says. “Plaintiffs are entitled to relief securing their fundamental rights to free expression and petition and freedom from compelled speech.”

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The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Rich Guggenheim and Christina Goeke, are seeking damages and for the court to block enforcement of decorum rules around respectful language in committee hearings at the Colorado Legislature.

They both testified against House Bill 24-1071, which will add gender-affirming care to the definition of good cause for when a person convicted of a felony petitions to change their legal name. The complaint says the plaintiffs are opposed to the bill because they believe “it will make it easier for transgender individuals to conceal criminal convictions and thus pose a danger to children, women, and vulnerable populations.”

During their testimony against the bill, both plaintiffs repeatedly misgendered and deadnamed Tiara Latrice Kelley, a transgender woman who lives in Colorado Springs and was convicted of three misdemeanor charges from previous sex work in Florida. Her charges were converted to a felony according to a provision of Florida law.

Deadnaming is when someone calls a transgender person by their previous name. Z Williams, co-director of the Denver nonprofit Bread and Roses Legal Center, said deadnaming someone is “an act of transphobic violence” that causes harm to transgender people, particularly the person being deadnamed. Williams isn’t involved in the case, but their organization offers legal services in support of LGBTQ communities and supports HB-1071.

Lawmakers considered naming the bill after Kelley, as she has been unable to change her legal name because of current regulations. Kelley hasn’t been able to access victim support for survivors of the Club Q mass shooting because of a legal name requirement, she said.

The complaint also says Guggenheim and Goeke disagree with “the concepts of” misgendering and deadnaming, calling the ideas personally “degrading and demeaning.” They “consider adherence to a transgender person’s pronoun preferences, assumed gender, or assumed name to be a form of lying.”

Rules for public testimony in both the Colorado House and Senate note that a committee chair has the discretion to limit testimony and ask for disruptive people to be removed. Williams noted that because legislative hearings are “limited public forums,” legislators, in this case committee chairs, historically have the right to limit speech in these venues. A limited public forum means the discussion can be confined to a certain topic and must follow the rules set ahead of time.

Trans movements and trans leaders are winning, and I think that this is the equivalent of a temper tantrum.

– Z Williams, of the Bread and Roses Legal Center

“They could have made every single point that they wanted to in their speeches, and followed the decorum that exists,” Williams said. “It’s decorum that also we had to prepare our side for … and we knew that if we didn’t abide by the rules of the committee, that there would be consequences.”

Legislators named in the lawsuit include state Representative Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Lorena Garcia, an Adam County Democrat, Representative Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat, state Senator Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Dafna Michaelson Jenet. Legislative staff said the legislators would not comment on the lawsuit given the pending litigation, but they have retained counsel.

Testimony cut off

The complaint, which repeatedly mixes up Garcia’s and Gonzales’ names, noted that bill sponsors Garcia and Michaelson Jenet asked for witnesses to be respectful and use names and pronouns that other witnesses preferred during their respective chambers’ hearing. Gonzales and Weissman, the two judiciary committee chairs, echoed the sponsors’ sentiments and adopted their recommendations against misgendering and deadnaming as rules for testifying during the hearing.

Weissman interrupted and stopped Goeke’s testimony during the bill’s House Judiciary Committee hearing in late January after she continuously misgendered and deadnamed Kelley during her testimony. Weissman asked her to keep her testimony focused on the bill and not individual people, and she continued to refer to Kelley. Herod also interrupted Goeke’s testimony, and she was cut off again before the committee went into a brief recess.

When Gonzales told Goeke during her Senate Judiciary Committee testimony against the bill in March that there would be no misgendering or deadnaming permitted, Goeke said she does not respect that and would not lie in her testimony. When she continued to deadname Kelley, Gonzales cut off the rest of her testimony.

The audio recording of the Senate hearing cut most of Goeke’s testimony because of her repeated use of Kelley’s former name.

Guggenheim decided against testifying during the House committee hearing after he heard that he would not be permitted to misgender or deadname people, according to the complaint. He testified during the Senate hearing, and after he also deadnamed and misgendered Kelley, he was cut off.

The defendants claim their First Amendment rights were violated when their testimony was stopped and that the legislators wrongfully discriminated against them when enforcing rules of decorum based on their views against the bill and transgender rights. They argue that making a witness acknowledge someone as transgender is compelled speech. Goeke’s testimony being erased from the public record of the meeting is also a violation of her constitutional rights, the lawsuit alleges.

Attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech, an organization that advocates for the right to free political speech, are representing the plaintiffs in the case.

“Americans are having a debate about sex, gender, and pronouns. The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to express their views on those matters, even if those views might be offensive to some,” Del Kolde, a senior attorney at the institute, said in a statement. “By forcing speakers to adopt a contested ideology, Colorado lawmakers unlawfully privileged one viewpoint over another and silenced dissent, going so far as to erase it from the public record.”

Gays Against Groomers, for which Guggenheim is the Colorado chapter’s president, and Rocky Mountain Women’s Network, for which Goeke is a founder, are also named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Both organizations oppose transgender rights.

Williams said legislative leaders in Colorado are working hard to make spaces like legislative hearings accessible and comfortable for marginalized communities. To Williams, the lawsuit is “a desperate attempt to get attention” and cause harm to the transgender community.

“The fact is all the bills they fought passed, and Colorado continues to become a better and safer place for trans people,” Williams said. “Trans movements and trans leaders are winning, and I think that this is the equivalent of a temper tantrum.”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the bill that the plaintiffs testified against into law Friday. The Legislature also passed a bill that would require public schools to use students’ preferred name and pronouns.

Another lawsuit in Colorado related to compelled speech made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled that Colorado cannot compel a website designer to create custom sites for same-sex couples in June 2023.

Republicans in the Colorado House accused Democratic leadership of censorship this week when they asked members to avoid using sensitive language around immigration.

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