Federal appeals court weighs whether schools must out trans students during trips

Colorado attorneys defended transgender students’ right to receive the same treatment as their peers during overnight school trips as a federal appeals court weighed a challenge to a school district policy allowing students to room according to gender identity.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in a lawsuit backed by the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which challenges a Jefferson County Public Schools policy allowing transgender students to share hotel rooms with classmates who share their gender identity.

JeffCo Public Schools argued that ending the policy would force schools to single out transgender students and expose children already vulnerable to bullying and harassment.

“What plaintiffs seek is unprecedented, in terms of changing how the school district interacts with all other students, because of their free exercise concerns,” argued school district attorney Eric Olson, according to The Denver Gazette. “The stigma goes far in the other direction by forcing the identification of people who are different, which is what the net result of this policy is.”

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District policy prohibits schools from disclosing a student’s transgender status to unrelated families, treating the information as protected student privacy data.

Joe and Serena Wailes sued the district after learning their 11-year-old daughter had shared a hotel room with a transgender girl during a 2023 school trip to Washington, D.C. ADF attorneys argued the district violated the family’s parental and religious rights by not informing parents beforehand.

"Our families have simply asked Jeffco not to room their children with the opposite sex on overnight school trips without notice or their consent," argued Alliance attorney Noel Sterett, according to the Golden Transcript.

Olson countered that the parents sought a districtwide policy change that would require schools to treat transgender students differently from their peers. He argued that the case differs from recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings allowing parents to opt their children out of LGBTQ-inclusive lessons because the dispute centers on student privacy and how schools interact with other children.

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The lawsuit has unfolded alongside a broader federal investigation into JeffCo Public Schools under the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education concluded the district violated Title IX by allowing transgender students to access sports teams, bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations consistent with their gender identity. District officials rejected the findings and said Colorado’s anti-discrimination law requires schools to protect transgender students’ access to facilities aligned with their gender identity.

President George W. Bush appointed Circuit Judge Harris Hartz to the bench, while President Barack Obama appointed Circuit Judges Scott Matheson Jr. and Nancy Moritz.

U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez dismissed the lawsuit last year, ruling parents had “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."