A new category may soon be added to Colorado death certificates — gender.
The update is meant to recognize the identity of the deceased while also satisfying the needs of researchers. But already, it's become a fault line between conservatives and progressives in Colorado.
The gender category would appear on death certificates in addition to "sex," the place where the deceased's biological sex has long been recorded. Lawmakers from both parties agree that biological sex is important information, especially for medical researchers, and should be recorded.
But often, the sex that's recorded on death certificates is at odds with gender identity. A 2022 review of 51 trans and nonbinary people's death records in Portland, Ore., found that more than half had been misgendered. Trans women were marked as "male" nearly two-thirds of the time.
When that happens, a lifetime’s experience is erased, said state Rep. Kyle Brown, a Louisville Democrat who's one of the proposal's sponsors.
"People in Colorado deserve to be recognized in death as they lived their life," he said.
The proposal, House Bill 25-1109, establishes three options for gender: male, female or nonbinary. It also requires those who fill out death certificates — doctors, coroners, funeral directors — to use the gender identity of the deceased.
Adding a gender category would align death records with other identifying documents issued by Colorado, including driver's licenses, and it would enrich data collection, say supporters.
"If they happen to die of prostate cancer and their gender identity is female, that's important information for us to have," said state Rep. Karen McCormick, D-Longmont. "Actually, this is adding more information to data collection from the standpoint of what kinds of diseases are we seeing in the transgender community or the intersex community. It's important to track all those details."
However, having a separate category for gender would be unusual. California and New York allow people to be identified as nonbinary on death certificates, but most states don't.
Republicans in the state House of Representatives say the legislation is a "deception" and a violation of First Amendment rights. They also warn it could make Colorado even more of a target of the Trump administration, which has insisted "there are only two genders" and those are entirely determined by biological sex.
"We cannot continue to thumb our nose the way we have and not think that a reckoning is coming," said state Rep. Max Brooks, R-Castle Rock. "There's a higher power, and they are watching. They are watching, and they are going to hold silly rules (and) silly laws accountable."
House Bill 1109 was approved by the House on a voice vote Wednesday. It must pass a final vote before heading to the state Senate for consideration.
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