Transgender rights bill withstands Republicans' filibuster-style tactics
Republicans are far outnumbered in the Colorado House, but that hasn’t stopped them from using delay tactics to stand their ground on ideological principles, even during a pandemic.
On several of the session’s most controversial Democratic priorities — including a bill that would require people to lock up guns when not using them, a bill that would add a media literacy curriculum, and now a bill aimed at protecting transgender people from discrimination — Republican lawmakers have delayed a vote for hours.
They’ve made long, meandering speeches and brought forward amendment after amendment only to have them predictably rejected by Democrats in the majority. These tactics parallel the “filibuster” used by the party in the minority in the U.S. Senate to delay a bill by essentially talking it to death, or threatening to talk it to death.
The latest legislation to inspire such fierce opposition among GOP state lawmakers is House Bill 21-1108, which would amend the definition of “sexual orientation” in Colorado law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on someone’s gender expression or gender identity. It’s sponsored by House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, a Pueblo Democrat.
Read more: https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/04/01/transgender-rights-bill-withstands-republicans-filibuster-style-tactics/