DENVER, CO – After filing a federal lawsuit last month, a Colorado Christian summer camp represented by Alliance Defending Freedom reached a favorable settlement with the state that allows it to keep campers separated in single-sex designated facilities according to its religious and common sense beliefs on human sexuality. 

Camp IdRaHaJe, which derives its name from the song “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” challenged a policy from Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood that requires licensed camps to allow campers to use the bathrooms, bathing areas, and sleeping quarters of the opposite sex. The camp had requested a religious exemption, but state regulators denied it leaving the camp facing a potential shut it down as it stated it would not comply with the policy.

Rather than have the policy scrutinized in court, state officials agreed, as part of the settlement, not to enforce the policy against Camp IdRaHaJe. The state also clarified that “churches, synagogues, mosques, or any other place that is principally used for religious purposes” are also exempt from the requirements.

As a result of the settlement, approximately 2,400 to 3,000 kids will be able to attend the camp this summer in a safe, Christian environment.

Camp IdRaHaJe has hosted children since 1948 and has had a resident camp license since 1995. The camp’s doctrinal statement declares that “God has immutably created each person as either male or female in His image” and “the differentiation of the sexes, male and female, is part of the divine image in the human race.”

Camp IdRaHaJe hosts and serves children from ages six to 17 and offers off-site backpacking, camping trips and many other on-site activities. The camp hosts thousands of students each summer with the mission to “win souls to Jesus Christ through the spreading of the Gospel.” The camp is open to children of all backgrounds and beliefs.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated, “Colorado’s gender policy is a violation of the camp’s Christian mission as well as a threat to child safety. Camp IdRaHaJe’s settlement is a victory for religious liberty in the state where religious organizations no longer have to choose between their sincerely held religious beliefs on human sexuality and their state licenses. The government also has no place forcing the false, corrosive gender ideology upon its citizens. Colorado needs to remove this policy altogether and protect children.”

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