Parents in Colorado are taking legal action against their local school district after the alleged placement of an 11-year-old girl in a hotel room with a biologically male transgender student during an overnight school trip. This incident has sparked a lawsuit, with the Alliance for Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization, filed an opening brief in Wailes v. Jefferson County Public Schools with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the district’s policy of assigning overnight accommodations based on gender identity, rather than biological sex, violates the rights of parents to make decisions about their children’s upbringing and education. The policy reportedly does not allow for parental opt-out or the ability to request that children room only with students of the same biological sex. The parents claim that this practice exposes students to uncomfortable or potentially unsafe situations, undermining their privacy and security.
The case centers around a summer 2023 school trip to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., where the daughter of Joe and Serena Wailes, an 11-year-old girl, was assigned a two-bed room with three other students. The complaint details that the girl learned her roommate was biologically male and identifies as a transgender female, prompting her to contact her mother, who was serving as a chaperone. This placement contradicted assurances from the district, which claimed that boys and girls would be separated by gender, further fueling the parents’ concerns about the policy’s enforcement.
Jefferson County Public Schools’ policy, as outlined in the complaint, allows for students to be assigned overnight accommodations based on gender identity, rather than biological sex. The lawsuit highlights this as a significant departure from traditional housing practices and raises questions about the district’s compliance with parental rights. The case is part of a growing legal battles over public school policies that allow for gender-based rooming, which has drawn attention from various legal and religious groups.
A representative from the Alliance for Defending Freedom, Kate Anderson, stated that the policy undermines the rights of religious parents who wish to raise their children according to their values. She emphasized the importance of parental authority in directing the upbringing and education of their children, especially when it comes to matters of bodily privacy and informed decision-making. The outcome of this lawsuit could set a precedent for how public schools handle such requests and how much influence parents can have on their children’s educational experiences.