The proposed bill HB24-p1039 allows upon request a student preferred non legal name to be used in school. Introduced January 10th of this year, the bill has passed both the Senate and House and is now just waiting on the signature of the governor. Many people will benefit. A task force will be sent out July 30th to assess the guidelines of the bill before January 1st, 2025. Superintendents then will receive the information February 1st, then schools will be required to follow these guidelines after July 1st, 2025.
A hearing took place February 23rd, where the bill’s sponsor Stephanie Vigil, Scott Bottoms, and other members of the House discussed the issue. A recent tragedy that took place in Oklahoma where a kid was beaten to death for identifying as nonbinary in the school bathrooms was brought up during the hearing. Many well thought out points were thrown out in the discussion.
However, some teachers may refuse to use students preferred names if their parents don’t know about the switch, saying it’s “deceiving parents.” Some congressmen say that it’s forcing speech and goes against the 1st amendment. According to quotes from the Gazette, Bottoms of the House of Representatives said, “If I find out a teacher has been keeping secrets from me about the sexuality of my child that is their student, I will do everything I can to make sure they lose their job,”
Since the bill allows students to change their name upon request without going legal with it, it especially affects the youth whose parents do not accept their preferred names. The research quoted in the session stated that 20% of name changes are not accepted in a household. Children feel as though acceptance in school will ease the neglect they face at home. Some parents even go as far as physical violence towards children who identify with a different name than the one given at birth.
However, many Spartans are ecstatic about this new improvement. Doherty freshman Vincent Garcia said , “Because I use a preferred name it is hard for me to advocate for myself, it makes it easier for me to change my name without having to go through a thousand people.” This is especially true, when legally changing your name you must change your driver’s license, social security card, and passport, and it’s not easy to do so.
Our staff member at Doherty that runs the yearbooks and the newspaper Jenny George said,”The new policy this year was to post flyers around the school for students who wanted to update their names, and they just had to have a conversation with admin.” Mrs. George also says that, “One of the problems name changes could create is having a student listed under two different names in the book,” This could create confusion since two names might be perceived as two people. She is hopeful that students will feel more included once the school’s have better guidance about how to handle this issue.
More details about the bill are provided here, –https://app.coloradocapitolwatch.com/bill/1/HB24-1039/2024/1/