LGBTQ activists are celebrating Colorado becoming the 10th state in the country to prohibit the gay and transgender panic defense in state court — but that win came after a battle and was never a sure bet.
Even though Democrats control both chambers of the Colorado Legislature and the governor’s mansion, the legislation faced intraparty opposition and was initially killed in a Democratic-controlled Senate committee before becoming law.
Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected governor in U.S. history, signed Senate Bill 20-221 on Monday after earlier this year downplaying the need for it himself in an interview with the Washington Blade.