Four families in Colorado are suing their local school district after it allegedly trried to make an 11-year-old girl share a bed with a male-born transgender student on an overnight school trip.
The lawsuit is being brought against Jefferson County Public Schools over alleged violations of parental rights and children's privacy, through Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organisation.
The families claim the district assigns rooms based on "gender identity" rather than biological sex, without informing parents or obtaining their consent.
The legal action, titled "Wailes v Jefferson County Public Schools", has reached the US Court of Appeals, with opening arguments submitted on Wednesday.
The first incident occurred in summer 2023 when Joe and Serena Wailes's daughter, who had just completed fifth grade - or Year Six - travelled on a school excursion to Philadelphia and Washington DC.
She was allocated a twin-bed hotel room with three other pupils - two from her own school and one from another district school.
While getting ready to sleep on the first evening, the girl discovered her "bed partner" was biologically male but identified as female.
The child immediately contacted her mother, who was serving as a chaperone on the trip, from the bathroom.
Joe and Serena Wailes (pictured) are suing their local school district
|ADF INTERNATIONAL
District officials had earlier said male and female students would be accommodated on separate hotel floors.
The families say the district provides no mechanism for parents to opt out or request their children share rooms exclusively with pupils of the same biological sex.
Court documents detail another incident where an 11-year-old boy at a school camp was told he would have a male counsellor, but the adult supervisor was actually biologically female and identified as non-binary.
This counsellor was responsible for overseeing boys in their cabin and during shower times, according to the lawsuit.
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Jefferson County Public Schools is being sued over alleged violations of parental rights and children's privacy
|WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Kate Anderson, who directs the ADF Centre for Parental Rights, argued that "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."
She said this right is crucial for parents raising children according to their religious beliefs.
Ms Anderson noted that whilst Jefferson County Public Schools claims to "freely grant accommodations to all," it refuses to provide equal arrangements for religious students who want education and privacy at the same time.
The lawsuit follows the dire warning of Brad Dacus, of the Pacific Justice Institute, to GB News.
He told Britain's News Channel last year: "Many public school teachers themselves are a part of the LGBTQ movement or lifestyle, and so they’re looking to groom children and to victimise children.
“It’s in our public schools where this is happening, and that’s why school choice is so important.
“I think one reason why it’s booming and being adopted state after state across America is so parents have a choice to take their kids out of what many see as spiritual death camps called public schools.”
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