Several Colorado parents are taking legal action against their local school district after an alleged incident during an overnight school trip placed an 11-year-old girl in a hotel room with a transgender-identifying male student. The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal organization, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, argues that the district’s policy allows biologically male students to share accommodations with girls based solely on gender identity without parental notification or consent. This policy is said to violate parents’ fundamental rights to make decisions about their children’s education and upbringing, as well as to protect their children from potentially unsafe situations.
The case, known as ‘Wailes v. Jefferson County Public Schools,’ highlights concerns over the district’s lack of opt-out options for families, despite assurances that boys and girls would be placed on separate hotel floors. Parents claim that the district’s policy not only infringes on their rights but also compromises their children’s bodily privacy and safety. The lawsuit was filed following an incident where the daughter of Joe and Serena Wailes, a fifth-grade student, was assigned to a two-bed hotel room with three other students, including a transgender-identifying male student. According to the complaint, the girl reportedly went into the bathroom to call her mother, who was nearby serving as a chaperone, after learning that her bedmate was biologically male and identified as a transgender female.
Jefferson County Public Schools’ policy, as outlined in the lawsuit, allows students to be assigned overnight accommodations based on gender identity, without allowing parents to opt out or request same-sex only room assignments. The ADF argues that this policy violates the constitutional rights of parents to make informed decisions about their children’s upbringing and education. The organization also cited other instances where similar room assignments occurred, such as a case where a boy attending a school-run camp was told his counselor would be male, but later discovered the counselor was a biologically female adult who identifies as non-binary and was assigned to supervise boys in their cabin and during showers. The lawsuit emphasizes that parents should have the right to direct their children’s upbringing and education, protecting their children’s privacy and religious freedoms, as per ADF’s statement.
The lawsuit also points out the district’s claim to ‘freely grant accommodations to all,’ yet it fails to provide equal accommodations to religious students who wish to maintain their educational opportunities without sacrificing their bodily privacy. Parents, according to ADF, have the right and responsibility to raise their children according to their religious values, which should not be compromised by government policies. As of now, Jefferson County Public Schools has not issued a public response to the allegations, leaving the legal battle to proceed as the school district faces scrutiny over its overnight accommodation policies.