A Colorado family’s outrage over their 11-year-old daughter being assigned to share a hotel room — and ultimately the same bed — with a transgender student during a school trip is gaining national attention as their federal legal battle exposes the increasing tension between transgender ideology and parental rights.
Joe and Serena Wailes said in 2023 that their daughter learned she would share a room with a biological male student who identified as a female after showing up for a Jefferson County Public Schools-sponsored trip to Washington, D.C.
Their daughter was allowed to eventually change her room, but the family says she was instructed not to explain the reason for the change. The Wailes argue that the directive reflects a broader pattern of secrecy regarding gender-related matters within the Denver-area district.
“They said that [they didn’t want us to talk about it] because they wanted to protect the privacy of the other student. And our thoughts are, ‘Well, what about the privacy of our daughter?'” Serena Wailes told Fox News.
The controversy is now the subject of a federal case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a non-profit legal group, filed a brief in late November on behalf of the Wailes and three other families who are challenging the school district for violating parents’ fundamental right to make decisions about the upbringing and education of their children.
“What happened to the Waileses’ daughter…was no accident,” reads the lawsuit. “It was the result of a Jeffco policy that directs Jeffco staff to assign students to share overnight accommodations with the opposite sex without notice to, or consent from, parents who object to that sleeping arrangement.”
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It continues, “Jeffco keeps them in the dark about the sex of their child’s roommates. Worse, Jeffco will not allow them to opt out or honor requests to room children only with the same sex…This denial of a reasonable opt-out is precisely what [Mahmoud v. Taylor] forbids.”
The lawsuit alleges the incident happened despite the district’s assurance that boys and girls would be placed on different hotel floors.
ADF attorneys filed the brief in Wailes v. Jefferson County Public Schools after a lower court dismissed the parents’ claims.
In her August ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez stated, “While parents may have the right to instill moral and religious values in their children on topics like a child’s gender identity, sexual modesty, and interactions with the opposite sex at home, they have no right to dictate Jeffco’s curriculum around these issues and its efforts to ensure that transgender students are part of an educational environment where all students feel safe and ready to learn.”
However, attorneys with the ADF see it differently.
“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 ADF Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, 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.”
Matt Sharp, an attorney with the ADF, added that they simply want parental rights to be protected.
“We want parents to be informed about bad policies like this, and we want their request to be honored,” he told Fox News.
Richard Harris, executive director of Truth & Liberty, said the situation is alarming and a prime example of the ideological shift overtaking school systems nationwide.
“The case out of Jefferson County Public Schools demonstrates how insane the policies of radical gender ideology have become. It’s time to abandon the delusional gender identity framework altogether and get back to the truth and common sense,” Harris said.
“If a boy feels like he fits in more as a girl, let’s not lie to him by pretending he is a girl. That only fuels the destructive delusion. Instead, let’s tell him the truth that he is, in fact, a boy, not a girl, and that his feelings do not dictate reality,” he continued.
Harris pointed out that the young man in this case should be encouraged to fully accept “his wonderful God-given identity, not his trauma-driven dysphoria.”
“No school district should ever hide a child’s sleeping arrangements from parents, especially in cases involving gender-identity conflicts that directly affect a child’s physical privacy and emotional safety,” he said.
CBN News has reached out to Jefferson County Public Schools for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
The district did provide a statement to a local news outlet regarding the incident in September, Fox News reports.
“While we have not yet been served with the lawsuit, we have conducted a cursory review of what was filed with the court, and we disagree with a number of claims made in it. We look forward to having an opportunity in court to share the true facts, including the reasonable accommodations we offer families and students,” a spokesperson said.
“Families always have the ultimate choice whether their student participates in any unique programming that involves overnight accommodations. We take these issues seriously, and we follow all Colorado state laws when it comes to how we treat students, staff, and families.”
