Three Colorado families are suing the Jefferson County School District over a transgender students policy that they say was concealed from them and forced their children to bunk with members of the opposite sex.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in Colorado district court, the school district's transgender students policy mandates that "children will be assigned to overnight accommodations based on gender identity rather than sex."
The complaint alleges that the policy was disclosed to students who identify as transgender and chaperones, but not to the other students or their parents.
The parents suing the district on behalf of their children — Joseph and Serena Wailes, Bret and Susanne Roller, and Robert and Jade Perlman — did not learn of the transgender students policy until their children went on school trips and discovered they were rooming with opposite gender students and chaperones.
On one occasion, the district put an 11-year-old girl and a biological boy in the same bed. In another, it assigned an 18-year-old biological female student to a cabin in a remote location with 11- and 12-year-old boys. According to the lawsuit, the 18-year-old biological female allegedly supervised the boys' changing and showering and had identified as female only one week prior to the trip.
In both cases, the students were reportedly uncomfortable with the sleeping arrangements. The 11-year-old girl called her mother, who also attended the trip, to voice her concerns about the rooming situation and was ultimately moved. Several of the boys being chaperoned by the 18-year-old biological female at a camp without cell phones refused to shower or changed clothes in their sleeping bags for the entirety of the trip.
The students' parents are asking the Colorado court to "make clear that JeffCo can't violate the rights of parents or students."
"JeffCo violated parents' fundamental rights by refusing to give them truthful, pertinent information about their children's overnight accommodations, thus frustrating their ability to make informed decisions about their children's education and related matters," the lawsuit states. "This constitutional violation also threatens the children's right to bodily privacy, which is implicit in the concept of ordered liberty."
"All parents should be concerned when information is hidden from them," Joe Wailes told The Daily Wire. "We love our school and the people who work there, but no school district should have a policy that overrides parental rights and puts children's privacy and safety at risk."
"We want all children to be comfortable when sleeping overnight on school-sponsored trips," he added. "We are grateful that the other parents are standing with us and hope more parents will stand up against these bad policies and ensure parents' rights are protected."
The three families are being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group that has been involved in a number of high-profile U.S. religious liberty cases.
Kate Anderson, senior counsel at the law firm, told The Daily Wire that the school district has "doubled down on their policy and made it clear that they will ignore concerns from parents and continue hiding information from parents about who their children will share rooms with."
"We are asking JeffCo to let parents be the ones to make decisions on their children's privacy while protecting the privacy of all children," she said.
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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