After filing a federal lawsuit, a Christian summer camp in Bailey, Colorado, achieved its goal: an exemption from state licensing requirements regarding transgender accommodation. Last month, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of Camp IdRaHaJe, named for the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”
In the suit, the nonprofit camp requested religious exemption from Colorado’s “resident camp regulations that require camps to allow campers to use shower, dressing, and sleeping facilities based on chosen gender identity.” When those regulations went into effect in February, Colorado denied IdRaHaJe’s initial request for a religious exemption.
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Taking legal action was an attempt to “uphold [the camp’s] religious and commonsense beliefs about biological sex,” according to the suit. IdRaHaJe, which has hosted young campers since 1948, refused to change its Bible-based policies and said it feared the state would shut it down.
On Tuesday (June 24), the camp announced a settlement with the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC). The department said it won’t require faith-based children’s camps to comply with the new gender identity rules for “places of public accommodation.”
Licensing regulations now exempt “churches, synagogues, mosques, or any other place that is principally used for religious purposes” from enforcement of those rules. In exchange for the exemption, the ADF dismissed its lawsuit.
Camp Would Rather Follow the Bible: IdRaHaJe Receives Exemption
In its doctrinal statement, Camp IdRaHaJe writes:
We recognize that there are people who experience gender dysphoria. The truths we affirm on this subject are that God has immutably created each person as either male or female in His image (Gen. 1:27) and that the differentiation of the sexes, male and female, is part of the divine image in the human race (Gen. 1:27).
Ryan Tucker, ADF senior counsel, called the settlement a “great victory” for the camp, “which is now protected from state action that would force it to comply with radical gender ideology policies that violate its deeply held religious beliefs.” He added, “Thankfully, Colorado has also rightfully clarified that organizations principally used for religious purposes are now exempt from the new gender ideology rules.”
Camp IdRaHaJe is eager to return to focusing on its mission, according to Tucker. Though it’s “unfortunate” that a federal lawsuit was required, he added, other religious camps in the Democratic state can now breathe “a sigh of relief.”
ADF legal counsel Andrea Dill said, “Government officials should never put a dangerous ideology ahead of kids. State officials must respect religious ministries and their beliefs about human sexuality. They can’t force a Christian summer camp to violate its convictions.”
Lisa Roy, executive director of the CDEC, said the department is “glad to support IdRaHaJe’s understanding of their ability to provide a Christian camp experience to kids.” She emphasized that the state didn’t enforce its new regulations there, and “the camp was never under a threat of closure.”
