JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Parents in Jefferson County Public Schools have filed a lawsuit alleging a district policy allowed their 11-year-old daughter to share a bed with a biologically male student on a school trip, without the parents being notified in advance.
The lawsuit, brought by three families and supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom, claims the district arranges overnight accommodations based on gender identity rather than biological sex.
According to court documents, the girl was on a trip in June 2023 when she learned she was sharing a room — and bed — with a student who identifies as female but was “assigned male at birth.” The parents say they were not told about the bed-sharing arrangement beforehand.
In a legal filing, the parents said that after she discovered the other student’s “birth sex,” the girl called her mother, who was chaperoning the trip, and asked to be moved. According to the lawsuit, the district eventually moved the transgender-identifying student, but allegedly asked the girl to lie about the reason.
Jefferson County Public Schools has defended its policy, stating that the district intends to accommodate families and students fairly, but also emphasizing that it needs to balance privacy and nondiscrimination.
Meanwhile, a federal investigation has been opened by the U.S. Department of Education over the district’s overnight rooming rules.
The families are asking the court to require the district to change its policy — particularly to ensure parents are informed and have the option for students to be roomed based on biological sex rather than gender identity.
