Colorado Democrats advanced legislation banning “deadnaming and misgendering” as discriminatory acts, even amending child custody laws in the process, raising concerns among Christian and conservative parents in the state who affirm biblical sexual ethics.

The legislation would ban “deadnaming,” or referring to a self-described transgender individual by his or her former name before claiming to be a member of the other sex, and “misgendering,” or calling that person a member of their actual sex, in places of public accommodation. The bill passed on Sunday in the Colorado House in a vote that largely fell along party lines.

In another controversial provision, the bill would allow courts to consider both “deadnaming” and “misgendering” in child custody cases when deciding “the best interests of a child for purposes of parenting time,” prompting alarm from parental rights groups.

Many critics of such legislation also note that penalties for “deadnaming and misgendering” have a chilling effect on free expression, especially for Christians who oppose transgenderism.

Chase Davis, a pastor at The Well Church in Boulder, Colorado, said in comments to The Sentinel that the bill claims to offer legal protections for self-described transgender individuals, but in reality “punishes anyone and everyone who does not abide by radical gender ideology.”

“The bill would criminalize ‘deadnaming’ and ‘misgendering.’ It would give the state the ability to kidnap children from parents who do not affirm their child’s perceived gender, going so far as to label them abusive,” he warned.