State law also prohibits discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations and the use of conversion therapy on minors.

2019 polling from the Public Religion Research Institute showed that 77% of Colorado residents supported anti-discrimination legislation protecting LGBTQ people.

In 1861, the U.S. Congress created the Colorado Territory, whose government enacted a criminal code that punished sodomy (as defined by common law) with penalties ranging from one year to life in prison.

[5] The law was revised in 1939 to expressly cover anal intercourse and oral sex, whether heterosexual or homosexual, and the maximum penalty was reduced to fourteen years.

In 1953, Colorado enacted a psychopathic offender law that provided for indefinite institutionalization for committing sex crimes, thus putting homosexuals in the same category as rapists and child molesters.

In 1971, Colorado revised its penal code and decriminalized sodomy in cases that involved non-commercial, private acts between consenting adults.

Citizenship and Immigration Services reversed its decision from 1975 and granted permanent residency status to Anthony Sullivan, based on his marriage to Richard Adams in Boulder on April 21, 1975.

[18] Governor Hickenlooper signed a bill permitting joint state income tax filing for civil partners and out-of-state same-sex married couples.

[23] In January 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the state must retroactively recognize common-law same-sex marriages that occurred prior to legalization in 2014.

[24] In December 2024, it was reported that the building that conducted the first marriage license to a same-sex couple in the 1970s by Clela Rorex, a Boulder County clerk became officially a national monument.

"[37] Moreover, the state's anti-bullying law prohibits bullying on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services.

[39] On November 3, 1992, Colorado voters approved Initiative 2, an initiated constitutional amendment, which added language to the State Constitution that prohibited the state and all of its subdivisions from allowing "homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships" to provide the basis for any "claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status or claim of discrimination."

They sued to force the bakery to provide them with the same services as other customers,[42] and on December 6 Administrative Law Judge Robert N. Spencer ruled for the plaintiffs in Craig v. Masterpiece Cakeshop.

He dismissed the bakery's claim that requiring the business to provide the service violated its owner's rights to free speech or religious expression.

In July 2021, Colorado implemented strong legislation a first for the United States - to explicitly ban both sexual orientation and gender identity biased algorithms within high-tech companies and industries.

[44] In December 2022, SCOTUS decided it would "take up the case" under the First Amendment and hear arguments of a Colorado website designer - that discriminates, opposes and refuses to serve individuals within same-sex marriages.

[47] The law provides penalty enhancements if a crime is motivated by the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, amongst other categories.

[50] The shooter is the grandson of a high-profile Californian Republican lawmaker it was reported - "who has extreme and out there views on various social, economic and political issues".

[55][56] In June 2023, a lawsuit against the Sheriff's Department was filed - because Colorado was meant to enforce the infamous 3 year old "red flag law", that was invalidated and declared null and void by a federal judge in Oklahoma (part of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit), because a criminal got too easy access to a firearm (immediately just before the Club Q shooting happened).

In February 2019, the requirement to undertake such procedures was removed by a unanimous vote by the board of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

[66] On March 10, 2015, the Colorado House of Representatives approved 35–29 a bill banning sexual orientation change efforts (conversion therapy) with minors.

On March 17, 2016, the House voted 35–29 in favor of a bill sponsored by Representative Dominick Moreno which would have outlawed the use of conversion therapy on LGBT minors.

[93] In July 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed a case from a web designer who refused to offer her services to same-sex couples and originally started the lawsuit in Denver.

[95] In 2023, Colorado implemented a law allowing full access to bathroom facilities for all genders - to increase public health and safety protections.

[96] A 2017 Public Religion Research Institute poll found that 71% of Colorado residents supported same-sex marriage, while 21% were opposed and 8% were unsure.