JEFFERSON COUNTY–A group of Colorado families has appealed their federal lawsuit against Jefferson County Public Schools, stemming from an attempt to place an 11-year-old girl in the same hotel room and bed as a transgender-identifying biological boy on an overnight school trip. Lawyers for the families filed a brief on November 19 with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals after the original lawsuit was dismissed by a lower court in August.
In Summer 2023, Joe and Serena Wailes’ 11-year-old daughter went to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. for a school trip upon finishing fifth grade. She was placed in a room with two girls, and a biological boy identifying as a girl.
Despite the school telling parents that boys and girls would room on separate floors, Wailes was told she had to share a bed with the boy. After the girl went to her mother, who was a chaperone on the trip, they reassigned the transgender student to a different room.
The school claims that they were unaware of the student’s transgender status when rooms were assigned. the school district’s overnight accommodation policy states that room assignments can be determined based on the student’s gender identity. However, there is no opt-out option for parents to request that their child stay only with others of the same biological sex.
The Wailes’, along with several other families, sued the school district. However, the court dismissed the case saying parental rights and decision making does not extend to school policies. The Trump administration also launched a Title VII investigation into Jeffco Public Schools over its lack of transparency concerning the overnight accommodation policy.
The public interest law firm, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is representing the families in their appeal, arguing that Jeffco schools did not seek parental consent in their overnight accommodation policy and they have violated the Free Exercise Clause, bodily privacy, and parental rights.
“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,” said Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, in a media release.
Other families suing include parents whose son was assigned a non-binary female to monitor his cabin and showers in overnight school trip and concerned parents of a daughter who they say was sexually harassed at a Jeffco middle school.
Linsay Datko, founder of Jeffco Kids First, says these types of issues are nothing new for the Jefferson County school district.
“It’s also important to note that this is not an infrequent occurrence. Reports of transgender teens (often 17-18 years old) bunking with 11-year-old children at Jeffco’s weeklong Outdoor Lab have come to our organization weekly,” Datko told Complete Colorado.
The complaint names Jefferson County Public Schools, as well as the district’s board of education as defendants.
ADF is widely known for their successful defense of Colorado cake maker Jack Phillips, who was relentlessly prosecuted by the state, for refused to make a custom wedding cake for two gay men. Phillips won his case against Colorado before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As previously reported by Complete Colorado, ADF also recently settled a lawsuit on behalf of Christan summer camp, Camp IdRaHaJe, exempting religious camps from Colorado’s gender-identity rules.
ADF also is defending Colorado Springs therapist, Kayley Chiles, at the Supreme Court. Chiles is suing the state for free speech violation over law barring therapists from saying anything against sexual orientation or gender expression to minors.
