Last summer, a supposedly innocent school trip turned into an uncomfortable (to say the least) situation for the 11-year-old daughter of Joe and Serena Wailes when the daughter was assigned to share a bed — not a room, a bed — with another student, who was a boy claiming to "identify" as a girl.
Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday to Jefferson County Public Schools on behalf of Colorado parents to inform the district that its policy of hiding information from parents and lying to students is unconstitutional. ADF attorneys are representing Joe and Serena Wailes and their 11-year-old daughter after she was assigned to share a room, and supposed to share a bed, with a male student on an overnight school trip without their knowledge.
The JCPS policy states that students who identify as the opposite sex should be “assigned to share overnight accommodations with other students that share the student’s gender identity consistently asserted at school.” The policy also demands that “under no circumstance” should a student who identifies as the opposite sex be required to share a room with students of the same sex, but as ADF attorneys explain in the letter, that provision is not equally extended to other students like the Waileses’ daughter who does not want to share a room with a student of the opposite sex. ADF attorneys note how this policy violates the Waileses’ religious beliefs, the parental rights of all parents in the district, and the privacy rights of all students.
That's an interesting omission in the policy; "under no circumstances" should a student who identifies as the opposite sex be required to share a room with students of the same sex, but the same consideration is not extended to students who would rather not share a room — or a bed — with students of the opposite sex. This is supposedly fair? Note that the assignment was made without the knowledge of the parents, namely, Joe and Serena Wailes. One would think that was something about which the school officials would want to notify the parents.
Here's the issue that initiated the whole thing:
In the summer of 2023, on a cross-country overnight trip to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., JCPS assigned the Waileses’ daughter to share a room with a fifth-grade male student who identifies as a girl without notifying the Waileses’ daughter or her parents or getting their consent. The Waileses’ daughter only found out because the male student told her on the first night of the trip.
This is a lie by omission; one wonders what may have happened had the boy not told the Waileses' daughter about his sex. But when the issue was raised to school officials? That was when the outright lying began:
The school chaperone asked the Waileses’ daughter if they could merely move her to a different bed rather than a different room. While she was still uncomfortable with this arrangement, she agreed to try it for one night. JCPS officials then decided to lie to her roommates, and instructed the Waileses’ daughter to do the same, telling her to say she needed to switch beds to be closer to the air conditioner.
Did you get that? Jefferson County (Colorado) Public Schools officials lied to their charges and instructed students to lie. Is there no longer any such thing as integrity?
Never mind that for a moment. It's telling that this social contagion is now impacting even elementary-school children; it's certain that the boy in question, who at 11 may or may not have entered puberty (unlikely, perhaps, but not impossible), has not undergone any treatment or surgery. We should certainly hope not, at any rate. But to read the reaction of the Jefferson County Public Schools, all the boy has to do is claim to "feel like" a girl, and he is allowed not only to share a room but a bed with a girl?
In what universe does this make any sense?
This isn't a matter of equal treatment under the law or even under school board policy. Equal treatment would be satisfied by having the boy sleep in a room with other boys. If his parents insist on the school's recognizing their son as a girl, then let him forgo the trip unless his parents are willing to spring for alternate accommodations. And that's the other thing; this is an 11-year-old. It's highly doubtful that he understands the implications of his supposed "trans" status; one wonders if he is not simply a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy on the part of his parents. In some circles, after all, having a "trans" child is something of a status symbol, virtue-signalling run amok.
The Alliance Defending Freedom notes that the Waileses have fourth-grade twins who are planning to take this same field trip next year. The Waileses are asking the Jefferson County Public Schools to clarify their policies on student room assignments before their twins are put in a similar situation; if there is any sanity in Jefferson County, Colorado, the policy will be amended so that boys will room with boys, girls with girls, and never the twain shall meet — at least, not in bed.
See more recent RedState reporting on transgender issues at the links below.
