Health Safety Education and Services - Regular Meeting

Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Health and Safety Committee with Denver City Council. Coverage of the Health and Safety Committee starts now.

Good morning. This is the September 16th Health and Safety Committee meeting. My name is Darrell Watson. I'm honored to serve as the committee chair for this committee, as well as the city council representing all of the fine district nine. We have one action item today. It's 26-1305, Sex and Gender Identity Protection Ordinance. And before we roll into the presentation, why don't we start with introductions from city council members. I'll verify first if my brother from another mother, Council Member Cashman, is online.

I am here. Good morning. Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6. And then let's begin with introductions starting on my right. Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver District 2. Stacey Gilmore, District 11. Chantal Lewis, District 8.

Hey, everyone. Serena Gonzalez-Cucheras, one of the council members at large. Good morning. Diana Romero-Campbell, Southeast Denver, District 4.

Thank you so much, council members. Let me pause and see if there's anyone else online. Seeing none, today's presentation is an action item, and there will be public comment. We'll share kind of a little bit of the overview of how the public comment process will roll out after the presentation. So with that, I'll turn it over to the council sponsors, Council Member Gilmore and Council Member Lewis for the presentation. Great.

Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. We are honored to be here this morning to present the Sex and Gender Identity Protection Ordinance and this is very meaningful work and I am honored to be in partnership with Councilwoman Lewis on this legislation. Councilmember Paradis and I had started working on it and unfortunately she wasn't able to finish it out with us but I texted her this morning and told her thank you for the honor of being able to carry this forward and so I'll stop there and see if Councilwoman Lewis you have any opening remarks.

Just thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the folks that we've been able to work in partnership with to move this along forward for your time.

Yes. Definitely, definitely. And so we'll go to the second slide here. Also want to thank Meredith from my council office and Makayyo and Dakota from Councilman Lewis's office as well. We've got a short agenda this morning. We're going to discuss the Sex and Gender Identity Protection Ordinance. Our protection, our present, presentation, excuse me, covers why the ordinance is needed, what the ordinance aims to do, and specific provisions in the ordinance. The conversations that we've had with city agencies and community leaders along with the ordinance's current legislative timeline.

Just to talk a bit about why the ordinance is needed. So over 25 states have banned or restricted best practice gender affirming care for minors and 19 states have banned use of gender appropriate bathrooms for transgender people. Even in Colorado, there are school districts that are allegedly attempting to force transgender children to out themselves to their schools and have parents sign behavioral contracts that require using bathrooms aligning with sex assigned at birth. And given the alarming political climate and increasing targeting of transgender and gender expansive people, we must do something as a city to protect the people who live, work and recreate within Denver. And so this policy was shaped by the direct input of community leaders and constituents in order to be able to address those concerns.

Thank you. And as a broad summary, this ordinance aims to reduce unnecessary sex and or gender documentation and record keeping. It will prevent city resources from being weaponized against trans and gender expansive people and prohibit the city and county from sharing information that would advance investigations which target trans and gender expansive people.

And to flesh out what that means, this ordinance applies to voluntary collection and disclosure of an individual's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression data, which for ease of reference will refer to as the SOCHI data. And I wanna underscore that the mandatory collection and disclosure of SOCHI data that is required by federal, state, or city law is exempt from these requirements. Moreover, voluntary collection and disclosure of the SOCHI data that is necessary to affect an important city interest is also exempt from these requirements, and this includes but is not limited to data used for human services, health services, behavioral health services, criminal justice, shelter management, and matters related to grant applications, compliance, reporting, or management. The ordinance is proposed to go into effect and would require city entities to come into full compliance by January 1 of 2027. We'll delve into that more in the agency reporting requirements when we get to the implementation slide later on in the presentation.

We'll go ahead and now get specific on one of the four key provisions in the ordinance. And the first one is reducing unnecessary documentation and record keeping. And this bill will ensure that no department, agency, board, commission, officer, employee, or contractor of the city shall require the collection of or disseminate personal information regarding an individual's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression unless required by federal, state, or city law or regulation or unless necessary to effectuate an important city interest. If SOCHI data is required to be collected, the information shall only be retained for 30 days, excluding information needed to comply with federal, state, or city law regulation or to effectuate an important city interest. Thereafter, any non-excluded information related to Sochi data must be permanently destroyed from any city records.

To continue into the weeds just a bit more. So for the provision which prevents the weaponization of city resources, it mandates that the city shall not use any city funds or resources to assist another city, county, state, or the federal government with the collection of the SOCHI data, nor will it assist in any current or future efforts of another city, county, state, or federal government to disclose an individual's SOCHI information or discriminate against any person based on their actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression unless required by federal, state, or city law or regulation or unless necessary to effectuate an important city interest. And the city shall not enter into any contractual agreement that would commit or require any city official, any city officer or employee to directly or indirectly assist in the collection of an individual SOCHI data unless it is necessary to effectuate services and serves an important city interest.

For the third key provision, the ordinance aims to limit city involvement with outside entities in investigations which may target trans and gender expansive people. By mandating that, first, the city shall not use any funds, resources, or its law enforcement personnel. to assist another city, county, state, or federal law enforcement agency in any attempt to stop, detain, question, search, interrogate, surveil, identify, or investigate individuals based solely upon an individual's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. And additionally, that no city agency shall share its program applications intake information, census data or technology use agreements with any other city, county, state, or federal law enforcement agent unless again required by state, federal, or city law regulation or necessary to effectuate an important city interest. Also, as a quick flag, when we were in budget and policy earlier this week, we've made a few minor grammatical updates to the ordinance language and have also added actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to subsection F so that it's consistent with the rest of the legislation and references the SOCHI data. So it now reads, no city agency shall share information regarding an individual's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. It's in green, a little dark on the document we sent over. its program applications, intake information, census databases or technology use agreements with any other city, county, state or federal law enforcement agency unless required by state law, federal law, city law or regulation or unless necessary to effectuate an important city interest.

So we added subsections G and H to the ordinance after conversations we had with some of the agencies because we heard that it would be helpful to include language that explicitly says that the City of Denver agencies are still allowed to internally share data that to share data that they maintain with one another and that their policies can be revised in order to be able to reflect this. And as it relates to Section 2, which details the effective date, as I mentioned earlier, this ordinance is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. And within 90 days after the effective date, all affected agencies and departments shall report to the Denver City Council what sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression information they currently collect and maintain. And then since we were in budget policy committee earlier this week, we also added some additional modifying language to the ordinance, which specifies that on or by the end of November of each year, agencies will be required to report to city councils. So it now reads annually. Thereafter, all affected agencies and departments shall report to the Denver City Council's Health and Safety Committee or an equivalent Denver City Council committee on or by November 3rd regarding their compliance with this ordinance.

So in terms of community support, this ordinance was brought to us by community advocates as something that our city needs to make sure folks feel safe. It's been endorsed by 13 community groups and here are some quotes capturing people's experiences that I'll pause and let folks read. And then I also wanted to share an experience that Zee, the founder and director of Red and Roses Legal, shared with us that helped me understand how this bill can help us solve or what this bill can help us really solve. I want you to, for a second, imagine a high school student in Colorado. We'll call her Sarah. Sarah's in ninth grade. Her family moved to Colorado from an unsafe state. Her parents have supported Sarah in accessing age-appropriate and medically supervised gender-affirming care. Sarah's grandparents do not affirm her identity and reported her family to Child Protective Services in their home state. and the agency immediately opened an investigation. The state is attempting to get information from Denver to support this investigation, including what city programs Sarah was enrolled in and what her gender is listed as. In a situation such as this, this ordinance would confirm that a city agency would not be able to share any information about Sarah or her family.

Sorry, I needed some water. So in terms of the timeline, in addition to co-creating this legislation with community leaders, this year we've briefed and received feedback from over 15 agencies, the Denver LGBTQIA plus commission and the mayor's office and several of you here on council. As you all know, the ordinance was in Budget and Policy Committee earlier this week, and here we are in Health and Safety today. If all goes well today, it will be in first reading in two weeks, which is Monday, September 28th, and then second reading on Monday, October 5th.

all right we have um i think we have public comment first and then uh questions uh thank you so much uh council member gilmore and lois and your teams for bringing this forward uh we have an opportunity uh this morning for a public comment um before i roll into kind of how the public comment process will begin let me just really share um language that we always share at city council Our city council spaces are safe spaces for all community members to share their input during a public comment process. So I'll walk through a little bit of what folks should expect. We have 15 minutes to hear public testimony. All speakers should begin by stating their names. Each person will have two minutes to speak. For those participating in person, when called upon, please come to the microphone just right here in front of you. A timer on the presentation monitor will display your remaining time. For those participating virtually when called upon, please wait until you're promoted to speaker, then accept the promotion, turn on your camera if you have one, and your microphone, and you will see the timer on your screen. If for any reason a timer doesn't work, Alyssa and myself will provide a 10-second update to let folks know it's time to close out your comments. You will see the timer on your screen. Please refrain from profane or obscene speech. Direct your comments to counsel as a whole and refrain from individual or personal attacks, including disparaging other speakers' motives. With that, we have nine speakers that are signed up to speak. Our process is coordinated by our city legislative team or our city agency. They identify the speakers for and against and we alternate between them and no one on the committee controls that process so we'll call your name based on the order provided to us by our city partners. So the first speaker that's speaking for the item is in person is Ashley Cordero. So Ashley, if you don't mind coming to the mic, introduce yourself.

Good morning, members of City Council. My name is Ashley Cordero, and on behalf of myself and my law firm, Del Pueblo Law, LLC, we ask the committee to vote yes in sending this to Council for vote. I'm a queer attorney who lives and practices and operates my firm in Denver, and I personally understand the impact of growing up in a non-affirming home and community. Denver City has a longstanding history of protecting its queer constituents, including expansive definitions around sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and gender expression in its anti-discrimination laws, even before the state codified these definitions in 2021. In 2026, there were 835 anti-trans bills introduced nationally. 63 of these bills passed, including in states that surround Colorado. And this is just a brief summary and snapshot of the anti-trans legislation impacting our community. In Wyoming, banning gender-affirming care. In Idaho and Utah, banning gender-affirming care for minors. In Oklahoma, banning modifications to your birth certificate and failure to protect trans kids in adoption proceedings. In Kansas, prohibiting trans individuals from possessing driver's licenses that do not match their sex assigned at birth. Federally, the current administration has made it very clear of its agenda to harm trans and gender expansive individuals, including the most recent quote made in August that if the GOP wins midterms, transgender people will end. Colorado and Denver specifically have been perceived as a safe haven from these repressive laws. This ordinance gives teeth to the values Denver already embodies. When you live here and access Denver City services and programming, we will protect your identity and data from being unnecessarily shared with other government entities who may be seeking to harm you. Denver has taken a similar approach with information related to non-citizens when our immigrant neighbors have been under attack, and this ordinance was drafted to mirror those provisions. You heard what this ordinance seeks to do, so I won't repeat that here.

at time.

I'm at time. Thank you.

I appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

Next up, Jesse Paris, virtually. Jesse, if you're there, please lift your hand up so you can be recognized and promoted. The floor is yours.

Yes, my name is Jessica. Yes. Good morning. My name is Jessica Sean Paris and I'm representing for black star action movement for self defense. Positive action commercial, social change as well as the unity party of Colorado, the North. Partial coalition for a lot of black news is about conspiracy enhanced the revolutionary agenda. and I am a candidate on the ballot for House District 8. The election is November 3rd, and I reside at the Roach and Bedbug Infested Legacy Lofts in Darrell Watson's district of Define District 9, the historically black district of Five Points. Lord, I don't even know where to begin. Let me try to be as politically correct as possible. This is the most ridiculous thing I think I've ever seen this council bring forward. And I've been attending these meetings for over 10 years. The fact that you want to give people that decide 1 day, they want to identify a certain way protections. This is absurd you want us to engage in gender this for you. And accepting their delusion, you want the whole city to do this. And not share the information, but it's okay for them to share our information. Actual citizens information. PIPA has been violated on a daily basis. I don't see y'all running no bill against that. But yet, for these people that are honestly confused, sexually confused, have probably been abused and mistreated. It's just insane to me. It's like, we're living in bizarre world and this is which I want to promote. So, it's all part of the agenda that I've been pushing since 1973. Y'all going to pass this regardless of what I say and whatever I say is going to be deemed as hatred even though it's the truth. This is gender dysphoria and you want us to accept this delusion of these people that are honestly been abused or confused. And I think it's child abuse that you want to end the gender affirming care.

Thank you so much. Next up, we have Z Williams speaking in person.

Good morning, Council. My name is Zee Williams. My pronouns are they and them. I am the Director of Bread and Roses and have been really lucky to partner with our amazing sponsors and their exceptional staff to help push this ordinance forward. According to the President of the United States, I am a priority for counterterrorism enforcement. I'm a nihilist, violent extremist who should be eliminated by the year 2032. for being trans, for being in community with my people, and for speaking and asking that we have rights. In 19 states, laws have passed that are significant enough that these jurisdictions are considered 100% hostile to trans people. Several of them have national warnings that trans people should not even travel in them, and that trans people who can should move out. In Texas, they tried to felonize doing what I just did to you today by saying I am a trans person to a government official. In Kansas, a law passed that's being litigated right now that puts a $1,000 bounty available to be claimed if you can report someone for using the wrong bathroom. That is why people are coming to Denver. They're afraid for their lives. And they should be. And these are big, complex problems, but we've brought you a very simple policy. We've tried to be very careful and use a lot of discretion and to be precise and narrow in what we are asking for. This is a simple measure that can ease pain to a community that is being hunted by the highest level of government in our country. And I could not be more proud of Denver for doing this. So thank you all for your time. Please vote yes.

The next speaker is Brandy Majors, online.

Can I be heard? Can I be heard?

Yes, Brandy, please go ahead.

Okay. Yes. Sorry, I'm using my headphones today. Let's just be brief. This is like a world of pure imagination and utter delusion. For example, you know, I'm not saying this, black people don't have any protections. We don't get to just go slide in on anonymity and not be able to use our IDs and answer questions whether or not we're male or female or what age range and race or what race and ethnicity we have, whether we're black American or foreign blacks or whether we're Native American or Hawaiian natives or whoever, whatever, you know what I mean? We don't get to do that. We have to show our ID everywhere, like our birth certificate, our social security card. This is the rules. This is what it is. We don't get to pick and choose what part of the rules the president said we can use. He said that there's only two genders. There's a male and a female. You don't get to go ahead and cause play and pretend to be male and female all day. Whatever suits you over the last 15 years for benefits and assets and to be able to run it, come into incentivize programs. No, we should not be allowed to women's bathrooms. No, with all the women here sponsoring this really ask yourself. You allow this in your own lives. The answer is no, the answer is no, you do not go to the gym and you'll share the bathroom with transgender anything. That is the answer. Be truthful to yourselves. All these women in here, you're pushing this. You're pushing this on the sentimental side versus the realistic side. There is no protections for black Americans, but yet you want these protections for this world of delusion and. Cosplay no. No, you don't get to cosplay normal black beings every day. Why do they get to cosplay and get assets and benefits and secrecy? Are you ashamed?

Thank you, Brandy. The next speaker is Jacob or Jazz Smith. And I believe that Jacob Smith is virtual. Producer, let us know if we see Jacob Smith or Jazz Smith. Okay, the producer says we don't see Jacob Smith. If Jacob is able to join, we'll add them to the end of the queue. The next speaker is David Roybal. I'll give a moment. We don't see them at this point signed up, so let's give a minute for David Roybal. David signs in. We'll have David added back to the end of the queue. Jamie Frederick in person.

Good morning, House members.

Yeah, that's fine.

Good morning, Council Members. My name is Jamie Frederick. My pronouns are they, she, and I'm the founder of the Trans Rescue Network. I'm here today to speak in support of the Trans Protection Ordinance. In a time when trans and gender expansive people are under increasing attack by the federal government, we need to be providing a sense of safety for our trans community. Especially in Denver, a city many people throughout the country consider to be one of the safest for trans people. A city many come to shelter from states that have complied with the direct targeting of trans people by the federal government. And a city that has provided shelter for those whose home states are actively hostile to the trans community. We need to keep our community safe to keep Denver a safe place for trans people. This is a way to do that. The collection of data can be hostile and dangerous for those who are directly under threat. This data can and has been used to further target trans and gender expansive people. Given actions taken by both this administration and other states targeting trans people, this is especially important. Preventing collection and release of this data is critical for the safety of the trans community. I ask that you support this ordinance and want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to bring this forward. Thank you. Wyatt Kent.

Good morning, my name is Wyatt Kent. My pronouns are they, he. I'm an organizer with Bread and Roses, a trans community member and a concerned citizen. I strongly support the Sex and Gender Identity Protection Ordinance and its step in securing safety and basic peace of mind for trans people. This ordinance ensures that even the most basic of information about identity isn't weaponized against members of our community. Additionally, it limits what kind of information is being collected, stored, and shared. Denver and Colorado State as a whole has established itself as a safe and welcoming space for trans people and the LGBTQIA plus community as a whole. In this most polarizing of times, where countless pieces of anti-trans legislation move forward every single day, Denver has the opportunity to show trans people across the country just how easy it can be to stand up for basic human dignity. It's a simple question. Would you want the most basic information about your identity possibly used to harm you in the future? I strongly urge a yes and your support in making this ordinance move forward. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Wyatt. The last speaker that we have signed up, we have, and hopefully I don't destroy your name, Eloit Enoch.

Hello, my name is Elliot Enix, and I am, use they, them pronouns, and I am in favor of this bill. I am a trans person in a time when our community is being constantly politicized and scapegoated. I'm afraid of what unnecessary documentation of our identities might mean, not only in Denver, but in surrounding states, municipalities, et cetera. And the world is already a scary enough place to be queer and or trans, and I encourage you to take a small step to protect the privacy of our neighbors and community members by voting yes. Thank you.

I apologize for destroying your name. I just want to pause to see if any of the two individuals that were virtual, if they have signed on. If not, I'd like to provide an opportunity for anyone else in the audience. We do have time for folks if folks would like to come up and make a two-minute comment if you were not able to speak earlier or sign up. So I'll pause and see if there's anyone in the audience that would like to be on. If you like, please share your name, any affiliations that you have, and you have two minutes. The clock will be on the screen.

Hi, my name is Rebecca Layton. I use she, they pronouns. I'm not here with any affiliations. What I will say is I do work at the national level with survivors of gender-based violence, many of whom have various identities. And from a national level, people have a lot of fear right now. There is a lot of fear of their personal information being shared, whether if it's with government officials, ICE, it doesn't really matter. Right now there's significant fear. People are refusing to get healthcare unless they really need to because they don't want their information recorded. Sorry. I have friends in states that don't have the same protections as we have here in Colorado, and yet I still don't feel confident to tell them to come here safe. I have been in Colorado since I was 13 years old. I live in District 9, and I wish that I could tell my friends and my chosen family that this is a safe place. We have seen trans women go missing. We have seen our friends murdered. We need to know that their identities are not gonna be given away, that their personal information is protected so that they can continue to receive healthcare, they can continue to receive basic human dignity and be able to go out in public and not worry about their information being given to this government. that we are seeing come after people for gender-affirming care, come after people for reproductive rights, come after people for all kinds of reasons. And so I urge you all to make Denver a safer place for our community. And that's what I have to say today.

Thank you. Anyone else as I look around the room? Seeing none, public comment is closed. We do have the queue is open for council member questions and or comments. In the queue we have council member Flynn and the queue is open for any other council members and council member Cashman if you're online. If you would like to join the queue, please let me know.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To the sponsors, and just to clarify, because we chatted a little bit before the meeting, the changes that you gave us this morning, where it says report by November, I just want to make sure that we're talking about November of 27, not this November, because this is not effective until January 1st. So this November, we're not expecting a report about how they're trying to implement it.

My understanding, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, that the November 30th date is for us to get that baseline data, so for us to understand what data they are collecting, but the annual report wouldn't come until 2027.

Yeah, I would love to have an understanding of, as we talked on Monday in Budget and Policy, I'm trying to get a visualization of what are we collecting that we won't collect, What are we sharing right now? I'm surprised to learn that we're sharing this information with anybody, any other state. So do we have examples of that that we could give? Lori?

Sure. Lori Simonson, Legislative Council. So I think, and Meredith, you can help sort of track our conversation on this. At the end of the bill, there's a provision to provide reporting back to the Health and Safety Committee or equivalent City Council Committee. on each agency's progress on this ordinance. So one of the edits you saw that was made is to pick an actual month where that should happen by. And so that's how that November got added to the bill. I think your question is a really good one, is there wouldn't be anything for the agencies to report back on this November because it wouldn't be in place yet. However, you could request that there be some information provided, whether it be just verbally to say you would like an update as to how agencies are progressing towards the goal.

Exactly, Mr. Chair. That's what I would like, maybe by November, when we're done with budget, everything else, to bring some of the key agencies in, say, here's how we're preparing to do this. I know it's not required under this bill because it's not effective until January, but that'd be something, because I won't be here next November. I won't be on council. I hope I'm here, but I won't be on council.

Just to clarify, then, it would just be a verbal request of counsel and not a request to be added to the bill?

Correct. Correct. Thank you. Can I see Erica here? Could you, can I put you on the spot and ask you for licensing, what do you call it now, consumer protection and licensing? Licensing. Instead of excise and licensing. Yes, good morning. Can you tell us what... What your agency anticipates you're collecting now that you won't collect or you're collecting now that you would destroy after 30 days, etc. And are you sharing any of your data with other states? Have they requested information?

Good morning, everyone. Great questions. My name is Erica Rogers. I'm the Deputy Executive Director for the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. That was a name change last year, so we're all still getting used to it. But we oversee all the business licenses in Denver, so we receive a lot of applications from people applying for individual or business licenses. Some of these require background checks, driver's licenses, things like that, but we do not. The only information we currently collect that falls under this ordinance voluntarily is we have a demographic survey that is voluntary for all of our applicants to take. We initiated that a few years ago when we started doing social equity programming in the marijuana space, and we wanted to collect information that might help for education or programming purposes. But again, it's not included in any assessment of whether someone meets the qualifications for licensure. It's sheerly voluntary. However, that said, after our discussions with The bill sponsors, we plan to remove any questions related to this information. That way there's not any technological challenges with deletion. It's just not collected in the first place. So we are grateful to partner and collaborate with the bill sponsors on supporting the bill and making sure that there aren't any unintended technological or record-keeping costs associated with it.

Thank you. You would still collect a race and ethnicity demographics? Because you mentioned, I remember the marijuana outreach.

Yes, I'll happily send that voluntary survey. It's for all applicants that can choose to take it. And if you have any other feedback, we're always open to further improvement. So again, we just use that for education and programming purposes. But that was the main impetus when we started collecting that.

sponsors, then this doesn't have any impact on race and ethnicity information, correct?

No, no.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Thank you, Council Member Flynn. Council President Romero-Campbell.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I just want to thank the sponsors for bringing this forward. I think you've done a good job of really having it be very specific and targeted in what agencies should be collecting and not. And also, thank you to the speakers who came today and testifying. I appreciate that and I appreciate you being here. I had a question. We had a pretty robust conversation earlier in the week, okay, just a couple days ago, when this came to budget and policy. I just wanted to follow up regarding some of the data collection and the accountability for agencies to either not collect the data or to be able to Delete their data and make sure it's not available. Do we have is that going to be part of the report that comes out in November? Or is that something that. We have additional, like, I'm just thinking of the accountability side of that and how we ensure that the ordinances is being implemented.

I'll start off and hopefully Councilwoman Lewis can add. When we were talking on Monday, I think this is an excellent opportunity for Council as a body and this committee to make the request to agencies to start that inventory of what is out there right now around what they're collecting, how they're collecting it, what are the forms that they're collecting it through and hopefully working with technology services get a good idea of that and report back to us for further conversation. And I think it just raises the awareness for everybody that we need to be sensitive as the government on why we are collecting whatever we're trying to collect and that that's just not used one time. That once it's with us, unless we're diligent on getting rid of it, it just keeps piling up and we don't want to put people at risk. And so I think the November as a courtesy, just getting a high-level list and then understanding, you know, how they're going to comply. And it's going to be ongoing because it's data and it's dynamic. But I'm hopeful that we'll have more information. And I have to say again that we met with the Office of Human Resources yesterday. Everyone has been so helpful and appreciative and just, yes, we need this and thank you for doing it. And so I'll stop there and Councilwoman Lewis.

Yeah. And so I'll just add just quickly. So in Section 2, the effective date of the bill, the ordinance mandates that within the 90 days, within 90 days after the effective date of January 1 of 2027, all effective agencies and departments shall report to Denver City Council what sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression information they currently collect and maintain. And then annually thereafter, all affected agencies and departments shall report to Denver City Council's Health and Safety or an equivalent Denver City Council committee honored by that November 30th date that we were discussing with Councilman Flynn regarding their compliance with the ordinance.

Thank you. I also remember in budget policy, Councilmember Torres had suggested that this data also be shared with and reviewed by the LGBTQ Commission and just wanted to lift that up again as part of our process and engagement.

to report out to them on an annual basis. Thank you so much.

We talked a bit more about it and the boards and commissions are, you know, an important city interest and so they would be able to continue collecting this information similar to the initiatives like the Denver Police Department and their 30 by 30 goal that they're trying to diversify the ranks by 30 percent by 2030 and so it would effectuate an important city service to collect that information and so they should be able to continue to do that.

Thank you. Thank you very much again for bringing this forward. Again, thank you to the speakers. I have no further questions.

Thank you, Madam President. Just looking around the room to see if there's anyone else who wants to join the queue for either questions or comments. I'll pause for a moment. Seeing none, I'll make a brief comment. I asked my questions in budget and policy, and if there is any additional data specific questions as this moves to the floor, I think we can bring those forward. First and foremost, thank you both for bringing this forward. This is important. ensuring that at minimum that folks within our communities know that we're not just simply saying we're a safe harbor and we're a safe place, but we're also taking legislative regulatory steps to ensure we implement and execute on that. For community members that are watching this, Memory isn't, I mean, memory's long. I remember coming out as a queer man in 93 and after Colorado was deemed a hate state. That's not too long ago when in the state of Colorado it was illegal for anyone that was queer, whether it was gender identity, whether it was gender expression, or whether it is that you consider yourself to be a gay man, as I did, it was illegal for us to be fired just for simply being that. It was illegal for us to be kicked out of our homes. This was a law of the state. And we refer to the state as a hate state because of that. We have done good work in the state of Colorado and it's because of legislative action and it's because of electing folks who had shared experience, lived experience, and who are parts of communities that were being discriminated against and creating laws and regulations to protect. So I want to thank you all for this good work. There's always things that need to be ironed out, the data collection, who's going to make sure that enforcement occurs. And I do believe that the due diligence that you're doing will work. Look forward to speaking with you all concerning November, what level of inventory review you think would make sense for this year, which it's not required. It's just simply customary and possibly come through health and safety after budget and discussions that go forward. So with that, no additional comments and additional questions. This is an action item. And so, sorry.

This is really quick. I just want to say, one, I really appreciate the community that has shown up and the opportunity to work with Council Member Gilmore and her staff and their staff as we were able to move this forward. And just a moment of... of clarity for community as well as that this takes nothing from no other community. This actually enhances the protections for all of our communities. And when we talk about gender neutrality, I don't know about you all, but like when I utilize my restrooms, my son uses the exact same restroom. in my household. And so we actually are really good at practicing this in real time. And so just a reminder, it's not necessary to play the oppression of Olympics. We can hold all communities all at the same time and walk with those communities to figure out what it is that they need. and build policies from their pain. And I think that's exactly what we intend to do. And I intend to do that with other council members as well. And I know the same for council member Gilmore. And so thank you all so much for taking the time for us to be able to bring this to you. And a special thank you to council member Parity for her initial work.

Thank you so much. Council Member Gilmer, any final words? Thank you so much. And Councilwoman Lewis, it's been an honor to work with you on this and share time, many half hours together. And, you know, what happened with this bill, I have to say, after 11 and a half years serving on Denver City Council, I have never witnessed. anything like this. And so that goes to the city employees. The city employees within our city are concerned. They pay attention to what's going on. They know when folks come in for services, they bring their fears with them as well and share some of that. And so I am a member of this community. I have loved ones who are members of this community. And the love and care and humanity that is always exhibited and open is something that we need more of in this world. And I think of all the moms that have maybe had to hear their babies spoken about in a certain way. And I would be holding your hand. And when we got outside in the car, we'd have a debrief. But then we continue on because beauty and the strength and the resolve and the self-agency that is the hope for humanity. I have to constantly say because we need to allow everybody to be exactly who they are so that we can truly show up and work together and get the solutions. And that has been demonstrated by

us being able to pass this and the support that we've seen and so just want to thank everybody for for showing up in this space and and doing the work together thank you thank you so much sponsors this is an action item i will need a motion in a second do i have a motion from council president second by council member flynn i saw many hands um is there a need for roll call on this none thank you all so much for your presentation we look forward to seeing this on the floor there are no consent items for this committee so the committee is now adjourned