For years a group of Colorado lawmakers have tried and failed to pass two laws they said would improve the lives of LGBTQ Coloradans.

One bans mental health professionals from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation or “sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same-sex.” It also makes advertising conversion therapy a deceptive trade practice under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. The second bill makes it possible for transgender Coloradans to update their birth certificates without having to prove they surgically changed their gender or submit a public notice.

On Friday morning, Gov. Jared Polis signed them both into law in front of a cheering crowd gathered on the west steps of the Capitol.

“This has truly been a testament of how progress takes time,” Rep. Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, told the crowd moments before Polis signed both bills.

Polis, the first openly gay man to be elected governor of a U.S. state, recognized the historic significance of the moment, saying Colorado has come a long way since being nicknamed the “hate state” in 1992, when voters amended the Constitution to prohibit protections for people on the basis of sexual orientation.

“What a great way to kick off pride month for 2019,” Polis said.

What made the bills successful this legislative session was Democratic control of the Colorado Senate. Earlier versions of both bills failed to pass out of the state’s upper chamber in recent years, when Republicans held a one-seat majority.

Those who objected to the conversion therapy bill said they worried it would infringe on the ability of pastors and others to talk about their personal religious beliefs on homosexuality. And the concerns raised about issuing new birth certificates to transgender persons largely centered around whether birth certificates are historical documents that shouldn’t be altered.

Both bills weren’t passed on partisan lines, however. Some Republicans supported each bill.

Rep. Colin Larson, R-Littleton, voted to ban conversion therapy. The 32-year-old told a committee back in February that his party’s divide on the bill was “a generational issue, to be frank with you.”

“This (bill) protects them until the age of 18, so they have the ability to grow up and explore who they are and not be forced to do anything until they are a legal, consenting adult,” Larson said at the time.

Four Republican state senators also voted for the transgender identity documents bill, which several of the speakers noted as a sign of how much public opinion has shifted on the issue of gay rights in the last three decades.

“That is a testament to the work you all have done year after year,” Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, said.