Pastor Tate Throndson leads a growing church he planted in Colorado, and he developed strong concerns about a recent Colorado bill challenging parental rights (HB 1312). In addition to preaching on Biblical principles related to identity and human sexuality, he signed up and showed up to testify against HB 1312—along with more than 700 other Coloradans. In this interview, Pastor Throndson explains why and how he engages in public life, how he disciples his congregation in the area of citizenship, his experience at the Colorado State Capitol at the hearing on HB 1312, and why other church leaders and committed Christians should promote Biblical principles in their churches and in the public square.

In late March of 2025, legislators in the Colorado House of Representatives made national news by introducing HB 1312—a bill that ominously defined the act of a parent referring to a child according to that child’s biological sex as “coercive control.” This bill also allowed a trial court to withhold parenting time and even make custody determinations based on “deadnaming” (using a child’s birth name) or “misgendering” a child. Some of these startling provisions were removed from the bill before final passage by the Colorado Senate, but the bill still adds “deadnaming” and “misgendering” to Colorado’s nondiscrimination law. And Colorado Governor Polis recently signed the bill into law.

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