Coloradans with religious objections to same-sex marriage and gender ideology may have thought they could escape compelled affirmation of the state religion on these subjects as long as they weren’t creative professionals or didn’t send their kids to public school.
Then the Centennial State came for Christian summer camps.
Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je Association – whose name refers to the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus” – sued the leaders of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and its Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration to block new childcare licensing rules that force it to treat children by gender identity rather than sex in its camps.
Regulators denied its request for a religious exemption from those rules – while having granted an “undue hardship” exemption since 2017 for the height of its “playground equipment” – even though the department grants a wide array of exemptions including to camps.
The association believes some licensees have received “categorical” exemptions and asked for the same under the “special school or class in religious instruction” exemption, but the department said that exemption isn’t applicable to it, according to the suit.
The result is the association must “surrender its religious character, beliefs, and exercise” by letting 6- to 17-year-olds use “restrooms, shower facilities, dressing areas, and sleeping facilities designated for the opposite sex” or lose its license of 30 years, the suit alleges.
It’s seeking a judicial declaration that enforcing gender-identity regulations against the association violates the First Amendment free exercise and establishment clauses and 14th Amendment equal protection clause, and preliminary and permanent injunctions against tying its childcare license to following those rules or abandoning its religious views.
Hellbound and Down 