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Monday, Sep. 1, 2025

Can you go to jail for misgendering someone in Colorado?

Tyler Hickman, The Colorado Sun
no

The Kelly Loving Act, a bill passed in 2025 that created legal protections for transgender people, does not criminalize misgendering someone in Colorado.

Early versions of the bill defined misgendering and deadnaming — purposefully using the birth name of an individual rather than their chosen name — as discriminatory acts in public places of accommodation, like businesses, under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. Discrimination in these settings can lead to $3,500 in civil penalties under CADA, but do not lead to jail time.

The bill’s final version removed these terms, instead clarifying that refusing to use a person’s chosen name or how they choose to be addressed can be used as evidence of discrimination in a lawsuit.

A law passed in 2021 already prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression in Colorado. A total of 22 states and Washington D.C. prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. 

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