Transgender Boulder County residents and their allies alike are bothered by state lawmakers’ decision last week to vote down a bill that would have allowed Coloradans who don’t identify with their originally assigned gender to update their birth certificates.

After passing the state House three weeks ago with bi-partisan support, the Birth Certificate Modernization Act was killed in committee by a Republican majority.

Under current Colorado law, those who wish to change gender on a birth certificate must be able to prove with a doctor’s note that they’ve undergone sexual reassignment surgery. For those who are transgender but don’t want or cannot afford such a procedure — or, in many cases, are under 18 and thus too young to qualify — they’re left with a form of identification that doesn’t jibe with who they are and can lead to uncomfortable, nerve-wracking conversations whenever the document has to be shown.

“It would have been something that ensured I could apply for jobs safely in the future without having to out myself,” said Sara Connell, 25, a transgender Boulder woman who testified on the bill and helped rally support from members of the state House.

“The reality is that if I went to work somewhere new or went to grad school, I’d still have to contend with a world that isn’t built for me or doesn’t fit me.”

‘They knew what they were going to do’

It wasn’t exactly a surprise that the Republican-controlled State Affairs Committee wound up voting the measure down, but Connell believes the opposition comes more from a place of discomfort than thoughtful politics.

“If this was about anything other than being transgender, it would be a Republican bill,” Connell said. “It’s about taking government out of people’s lives and giving them control over their own private data. What could be more Republican than that?”

A recent report by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation states that only 8 percent of Americans know a transgender person, and one Boulder County parent who testified — but asked to remain anonymous to protect the identity of her transgender teen son — thinks the committee seemed to have its mind made prior to the hearing.

“I honestly felt like they had opinions about the community before they walked in,” she said. A couple of the committee members were looking at their phones and making jokes while a dad was testifying about how his daughter had considered suicide, and how, as a conservative, he had trouble with it, but ultimately loved his daughter more than anything.

“They asked very few questions, so I think to vote something down without asking about it says they knew what they were going to do.

The father she mentions was one of roughly a dozen who testified in favor, including transgender family members, medical professionals, and a representative from the state registrar.

Among that pair was a Mike Norton, a lawyer from the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, which works to protect religious freedom laws and to criminalize gay sex, among other far-right pursuits.

But Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, said he opposes the Birth Certificate Modernization Act not necessarily out of disdain for the transgender community, but because he believes the certificate shouldn’t be tinkered under any circumstance.

“A friend of mine who’s a doctor called me about this and said, ‘You gotta be kidding. A birth certificate is a scientific document, and for someone to have the option to say something other than what the physical fact is, is crazy,'” Lundberg said.

“If somebody makes some choices on what they want to be seen as or how they want to present themselves, that’s a different issue,” he added.

Finding understanding is far from easy

The difference of opinion on L, G, B and particularly T issues, however, often comes down to the fact that transgender people do not feel they’ve made a choice, per se, but rather embraced their true selves. And while coming out is a challenge of its own, finding understanding, educated support thereafter — both through measures like the birth certificate bill and through basic everyday compassion — can be an even bigger hurdle. As a result, transgender teens, men and women are about 40 times more likely than the rest of the population to have attempted suicide.

“You name the quality of life measure, and they’re incredibly, disproportionately impacted,” said Dave Montez, executive director of One Colorado. “You’d think after seeing all the data that lawmakers would find a way to reduce discrimination to make their lives less complicated.

“Unfortunately, with this bill, we saw that a few Republicans on one committee were able to stand in the way. And it really is unfortunate, because when your documents don’t match up, you’re discriminated against pretty much everywhere, from trying to get a job to trying to get a house to trying to vote. People look at you differently.”

Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burness