On Saturday, the Colorado House of Representatives voted on HB23-1135, a bill introduced to increase the severity of indecent exposure in front of a minor to a class 6 felony, and 27 Democrats voted against the bill, with one saying she was concerned it would lead to the ban of drag shows according to the Post Millennial.
State Representative Leslie Herod said, “These types of laws have been used to ban drag shows, to target individuals who use the restroom of the sex that they identify with—a public restroom—to charge them with felony charges. I am very concerned about the attacks against the transgender community that are happening across the country.”
🚨🚨 27 DEMOCRATS VOTE AGAINST MAKING INDECENT EXPOSURE TO MINORS A CLASS 6 FELONY!
A Democrat attacked the bill for “targeting” the transgender community in her dissent. #copolitics #coleg
📜BILL: https://t.co/Lgle6vX25U
🎧Listen for yourself: pic.twitter.com/Tq9wiryLMu
— Colorado House Republicans (@COHouseGOP) April 29, 2023
“When I initially read this bill, it did not even come to mind for me, either, as an advocate—but as I’ve looked at the bills, and as I’ve talked to my colleagues who are fighting these types of bills across the country, it’s very clear to me that the language is very much mirrored in some of the laws that have been used to target members of our community because of who they are,” Herod added.
Colorado House Republicans said that the bill had 37 voting for and 27 voting against.
According to the state legislature’s website, the bill was up for final passage on Saturday and eventually did pass with amendments.
According to the bill, titled “penalty for indecent exposure in view of minors,” the current law categorized the first offense of indecent exposure with a minor as a class 1 misdemeanor but the bill would alter the law to make it a class 6 felony.
On Friday, the deputy chief of staff for the Colorado House GOP, Roger D. Hudson, tweeted out that in a previous reading of the bill “HOUSE DEMOCRATS filibustered for nearly three hours today AGAINST felonizing #IndecentExposure to minors.”
