A Christian summer camp in Colorado is standing its ground against the raging tide of wokeness by suing the state over an unconstitutional new rule that forces institutions like camps to treat children based on their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, a rule that violates the traditional Christian sexual ethic.
For context, on May 12, 2025, Camp IdRaHaJe (I’d Rather Have Jesus) sued the state of Colorado with help from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal group devoted to preserving religious freedom from woke policies that force Christians to forsake their values for fear of breaking the law. In a May 20, 2025, interview with Fox News, ADF representatives provided background on the case and explained why Colorado’s new rule contradicts the Constitution.
According to the ADF, the legal group that is representing Camp IdRaHaJe in court, the new transgender regulations pose a threat to children and are unconstitutional. Furthermore, ADF senior counsel Ryan Tucker told Fox News, “Every child deserves respect of privacy,” adding, “But that respect of privacy must extend equally to all students.”
Continuing, Tucker expressed the traditional, conservative stance on children sharing bathrooms with students of the opposite gender, saying, “No one should be forced to share a room or showering facilities with someone of the opposite sex. The law ignores reality, and children are the ones who ultimately pay the price.”
Moreover, Tucker explained that the blue state of Colorado “has been quite hostile to people of faith over the past several years,” adding that the state is “trying to ram this gender ideology to everyone in the state.” In addition, ADF legal counsel Andrea Dill chimed in, saying, “The government has no place telling religious summer camps that it’s ‘lights out’ for upholding their religious beliefs about human sexuality.”
Moving on, Dill said that Camp IdRaHaJe was dedicated to presenting “the truth of the Gospel to children who are building character and lifelong memories.” She added that the government of Colorado is forcing a “dangerous agenda” on children with its new gender policies, which she asserted are “losing popularity across the globe.”
In addition, Dill said that ADF is “urging the court to allow IdRaHaJe to operate as it has for 75 years,” adding that the camp “accepts all campers without fear of being punished for its beliefs.” However, in a statement made to Fox News Digital, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood reportedly said that its team is “currently unaware of any reason that would prevent the camp from opening to campers this summer.”
Furthermore, the Department of Early Childhood clarified that based on the state’s current policies, a licensed facility like Camp IdRaHaJe can go through the process of “requesting a waiver” to be exempted from “specific licensing regulations.” In contrast, ADF argued in court that the state was “left with the choice of either (a) retaining its license to operate and violating its beliefs…by treating campers based on their ‘gender identity,'” which the ADF described as “unconstitutional.”
Watch a promotional video for Camp IdRaHaJe:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video