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President Trump’s targeting of transgender rights as he begins his second term is raising questions about the potential impact on Colorado laws meant to protect transgender students, including a new one that requires educators to use students’ chosen names.
Several school districts, the Colorado Department of Education, and the state Attorney’s General’s Office provided a variation of the same answer when contacted by Chalkbeat: We don’t know yet whether there will be an impact but we are searching for answers.
While experts said executive orders of the kind Trump is using can’t override state laws, they conceded that the legal landscape under Trump is uncertain. Meanwhile, advocates said the orders are seeding fear in the transgender community, which they said was likely the intent.
“I’m receiving a lot of emails from the community about, ‘What does it mean? How does it impact us?’” said Jax Gonzalez, the political director at LGBTQ advocacy organization One Colorado.