Rights for transgender people are at the heart of two bills up for debate at the state Capitol, both for the second time after failed attempts last year.

One would allow transgender people to change the gender marker on their birth certificate with a note from a medical or mental-health professional, regardless of whether they had gender reassignment surgery.

The second bill would prohibit so-called “conversion” therapy for children, meaning parents could not send their kids to therapists for the purpose of making them straight or gender-conforming.

The birth certificate bill passed its first committee hearing and is awaiting a vote of the full Democratic-controlled House before it reaches the Republican-controlled Senate, where it died last year. The conversion therapy legislation has yet to have a hearing.

Rep. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, is sponsoring the birth-certificate bill for the second year in a row because the current process for transgender people to change their gender marker is demeaning and intrusive, he said. People are required to first have surgery on their genitals, then go before a judge in open court to ask for permission to apply for an amended birth certificate.

His proposal, in line with federal rules for obtaining a new passport, would require a person to get a letter from a physician or therapist certifying the person’s gender identity.

Many transgender people take hormones to transition but do not have surgery, which typically is not covered by insurance and is not performed in Colorado.

“Sometimes ideas take time,” Moreno said. “It’s too important to transgender Coloradans to give up on this idea.”

To protect a person’s privacy, the new birth certificate would not show it was amended.

Opponents of the bill say it could lead to fraud in marriage, sports and criminal justice by allowing people to take on a new identity. The bill calls for “going back and changing a legal record” and “creating a new, false document,” argued attorney Brad Bergford.

Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, agreed: “We’re changing history here.”

But Sara Connell, a transgender woman who testified at a committee hearing, said the fraud argument is invalid because people who change the gender on their birth certificate still would have the same Social Security number. The proposal instead would “get rid of these humiliating and outdated rules” that subject transgender people to discrimination in employment and housing, she said.

Rep. Paul Rosenthal’s bill on conversion therapy, which passed the House last year and died in the Senate, bans psychiatrists and other mental-health providers from trying to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“My goal with this bill this year is to try to prevent other children from being subjected to this so-called therapy,” said Rosenthal, D-Denver. “We need to move this issue forward.”

Focus on the Family “strongly opposes” the legislation and any prohibition that prevents licensed mental health providers from “helping minors with unwanted homosexuality or gender confusion,” said Jeff Johnston, the Christian organization’s public policy issues analyst.

The bill trespasses on parental rights and free speech, he said.

Focus on the Family does not offer “conversion therapy” but has pastoral counselors who assist people seeking help with sexual confusion, Johnston said.

A handful of other states have banned conversion therapy. The legislation is backed by the Colorado Psychological Association and suicide-prevention groups.

Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593, jenbrown@denverpost.com or @jbrowndpost