A group of parents in Colorado has initiated legal action against their school district following an incident during a school trip. They claim that a transgender-identifying male student was nearly assigned to share a hotel room, and even a bed, with an 11-year-old girl.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an organization that champions religious freedom, filed an initial brief for the case “Wailes v. Jefferson County Public Schools” with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on behalf of four families this past Wednesday.
The lawsuit contends that the district, located in the vicinity of Denver, permits male students, based on their gender identity, to stay in rooms with female students without informing parents or obtaining their approval.
The complaint argues that the district’s policies infringe upon parents’ fundamental rights to guide their children’s upbringing and education, potentially placing students in uncomfortable or risky scenarios.
Joe and Serena Wailes are advocating for revisions to the room assignment policies of Jefferson County Public Schools. (Alliance Defending Freedom)
In the summer of 2023, the Wailes’s daughter, who had just completed fifth grade, was reportedly on a school trip with peers to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
The Wailes said their daughter was assigned to a two-bed hotel room with three other students — two girls from her school and one from another school in the district, the suit stated.
According to the complaint, as the children prepared for bed on the first night, the daughter learned that her bedmate was biologically male and identifies as a transgender female. The girl reportedly went into the bathroom to call her mother, who was nearby and serving as a chaperon.
Joe and Serena Wailes are among several parents suing Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado. (Alliance Defending Freedom)
The room assignment came despite assurances from district officials that boys and girls would be placed on different hotel floors, the lawsuit said.
Jefferson County Public Schools’ policy, however, reportedly states that students may be assigned overnight accommodations based on gender identity.
The lawsuit also claims the district does not allow families to opt out or request that their children room only with students of the same biological sex.
Parents allege their daughter was improperly roomed during a school trip to Washington, D.C. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency)
“The district’s policy of rooming students by gender identity rather than sex without prior notice or a sex-separated alternative violates the families’ free exercise, bodily privacy, and parental rights,” ADF said in a press release on Thursday.
The lawsuit also cites several other instances in which children were placed in similar situations. In another example, the family of an 11-year-old boy attending a school-run camp said they were told his counselor would be male, but later learned the counselor was a biologically female adult who identifies as non-binary and had been assigned to supervise the boys in their cabin and during showers.
“Parents, not government bureaucrats, have the right and responsibility to direct the upbringing and education of their children, and that includes making informed decisions to protect their children’s privacy,” ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, said in a statement.
“This fundamental right is especially vital for all parents who wish to raise their children according to their religious values and protect their children’s bodily privacy. Jefferson County Public Schools claims to ‘freely grant accommodations to all,’ yet they will not offer equal accommodations to religious students to access educational opportunities without sacrificing their bodily privacy.”
Jefferson County Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
