Colorado’s Christian Summer Camp is appealing about gender policies that it says can shut down.
Camp Idrahadje in Bailey, Colorado, is asking the court to allow separate campers to follow in good faith and bound religious beliefs by gender rather than sexuality, the Denver Post reported.
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Licensed in Colorado since 1995, Camp, which derives its name from the song “I’m Lasy Have Jesus,” has been active for decades, dating back to 1948, hosting thousands of children in a week-long program every summer.
The issue focuses on state regulations governing gender, with camps refusing to operate based on newly adopted parameters for the Christian faith.
The May 12 lawsuit filed on behalf of Camp Idrahadje by an alliance of conservative law firms defending freedoms detailed camp concerns after the early childhood Colorado Bureau last year. New regulations requiring licensees like camps allow children to use toilets and other facilities that handle gender identity.
“On behalf of Christian summer camp, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit Monday in the US District Court for the Colorado area, seeking to adhere to religious and common sense beliefs about biological sex,” the press release states. “The camp is challenging a recent update to the Colorado Childhood Policy, which forces licensed resident camps to use campers of the opposite sex with private facilities.”
The camp said it tried to receive a religious exemption but was not granted. According to the ADF, the denied denials stated, “The camp was forced to choose to support its beliefs about the risk of losing its biological gender and its license, or the risk of abandoning its belief and mission to serve the child.
ADF lawyer Andrea Dill said in a statement that the government has no right to threaten to shut down or punish Christian camps solely to exercise “religious beliefs about human sexuality.”
“Camp Idrahaje exists to present the truth of the gospel to children who are building their character and lifelong memories,” Dill said in a statement. “But the Colorado government has a dangerous agenda that has lost popularity around the world.
She said, “We are urging the courts to run Idrahaje for more than 75 years.
Meanwhile, Lisa Roy, executive director of early childhood Colorado, said in a statement on CBS News that staff cannot comment on the aggressive lawsuit, but the agency will work with faith-based groups “within the purview of the law.”
“The department will continue to work together with faith-based providers and camps within the law to ensure maximum participation,” the statement read. “We cannot comment on aggressive litigation, as I am sure you understand.”
CBN News will continue to be covered as this story unfolds.
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