A conservative legal group is demanding answers from Jeffco Public Schools about its policies regarding transgender students.
Alliance Defending Freedom sent a second demand letter to the district after the group penned an initial demand letter in December.
It claims that an 11-year-old female student was assigned to a bed with a transgender girl during a trip in June 2023.
While ADF said Jeffco Public Schools responded to their first letter, ADF attorney Mallory Rechtenbach told Denver7 the district didn't answer all of their questions.
"Will you provide an opt out?" she asked the district.
Rechtenbach said parents could fill out forms before the trip with a version of the following question:
"Will you submit to this policy which rooms children by gender identity rather than sex? And then parents can either say yes or no."
Youth Seen, an organization that promotes the well-being of LGBTQI youth, has expressed concern for the transgender child at the center of it all.
Tara Jae, Ph.D., founder of Youth Seen, said while ADF's demand letters haven't named the child, it's possible that the child's peers now know their identity.
"This child was being vulnerable, and sharing an identity, then got thrown back at them, and now was exposed to a larger audience of what their identity is," Jae said.
ADF asked Jeffco Public Schools to respond to the letter by January 25. Denver7 reached out to Jeffco Public Schools for a statement. On January 17, the district sent Denver7 its response to ADF's original letter.
The letter states in part, "Jeffco Public Schools will not knowingly assign students of different birth sexes to share a bed, and it did not do so here."
It also stated, "At no time prior to June 25, 2023, did either the supervising chaperones or the private tour operator (EF Tours) know that Jane Doe was transgender."
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The June 2023 incident
Joe and Serena Wailes said their 11-year-old daughter was assigned to sleep in the same bed as a transgender girl during a June 2023 trip to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Serena said the sleeping arrangement made her daughter "uncomfortable."
"She was unknowingly assigned to share a bed with a boy who identifies as a girl," Serena, who was on the trip with her daughter, said.
According to Serena, the transgender student disclosed their gender identity to her daughter right before bedtime.
Wailes said she brought the issue up to chaperons, who agreed to move the transgender student to a different room.
After returning home from the trip, the Wailes family reached out to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal group known for its role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its representation of Jack Phillips after he refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.
ADF sent its first demand letter on Dec. 4, 2023.
The ADF penned a demand letter to the school district alleging the chaperons “lied about why" they changed the room assignments, claiming a “sick roommate needed more space.”
The parents told Denver7 they want clarity regarding the district's policies for transgender students.
"We just don't feel like it's transparent," Joe said. "And you know, we need a policy that gives the respect of all kids and respects the privacy and the rights of all kids."
Part of the district's policy states, “Under no circumstances shall a student who is transgender be required to share a room with students whose gender identity conflicts with their own.” The policy goes on to state that staff is not allowed to tell other people a child is transgender unless they're legally required to do so, or unless the student says it's OK.
"Obviously, it was very uncomfortable for an 11-year-old girl to realize she was going to be sleeping in the same bed with a student who's biologically male, even if that student identifies as a girl," Kate Anderson, an attorney with ADF, said.
