Colorado’s new regulations embrace gender ideology and shred religious freedom

CatholicVote | June 12, 2025
Original article can be viewed HERE
Photo Credit: Unsplash

Some Americans may travel to Colorado to see God’s majesty in natural beauty, but the state’s embrace of gender ideology under the guise of anti-discrimination has bolstered its status as a hotbed for religious discrimination.

Within the space of just days, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal organization that seeks to protect marriage, family, and religious freedom, posted two of its cases that focus on Colorado’s alleged attempt to place woke ideology above the rights of religious Americans.

In the case of Camp IdRaHaJe – a name that serves as an abbreviation for the 1922 hymn titled “I’d rather have Jesus” – Colorado is forcing the Christian camp to allow boys in girls’ cabins, showers, and restrooms, or else lose its licensure to operate in the state, argues ADF.

The state’s new rules, which took effect in February, require camps to assign these private spaces based on “gender identity” rather than sex.

“The regulations allow for individualized and categorical exemptions,” ADF explains. “But when Camp IdRaHaJe asked for an exemption from the gender ideology requirements due to its religious beliefs, Colorado officials denied it.”

Each summer, the camp draws between 2,500 and 3,000 campers. Though the camp maintains a biblical focus, “families who wish to attend are not required to agree with the camp’s religious beliefs,” ADF reports. “Parents simply must agree when registering that their children will follow the camp’s policies.”

The Supreme Court, ADF argues, has ruled in two recent cases – Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer and Carson v. Makin – that the government must respect religious freedom.

“By requiring camps to adopt gender ideology as a condition of keeping their license, Colorado officials are essentially ignoring these two Supreme Court rulings,” ADF argues.

In May, the legal organization’s attorneys filed a lawsuit after Colorado officials denied the camp’s religious exemption.

In a second Colorado case, the state’s recent amendment to its anti-discrimination act (CADA) has threatened a former national gymnastics champion-turned athletic apparel entrepreneur for speaking out about keeping men out of women’s sports.

Jennifer Sey launched XX-XY Athletics in Denver as an apparel company dedicated to protecting women’s sports.

“Women deserve the opportunities that sports and single sex spaces provide,” XX-XY Athletics states on its website. “Sex matters. It is the single biggest determinant of athletic performance. It is unfair and dangerous to allow males (XY) to compete in girls’ and women’s (XX) sports.”

Sey’s company has joined with female athletes such as Riley Gaines and Sia Liilii, who are also vocal advocates for women’s sports.

“But the state of Colorado recently amended CADA to include ‘chosen name’ and ‘how an individual chooses to be addressed’ in the definition of ‘gender expression’—a ‘protected class’ under the law,” ADF explains. “The new version of the law threatens the ability of XX-XY Athletics to speak about protecting women’s sports.”

On May 27, ADF filed a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s new law, which, according to the legal organization, uses “vague and undefined terms such as ‘unwelcome’” and “gives Colorado officials the power to punish businesses including XX-XY Athletics for expressing the view that male athletes should not compete against females.”

“The law is so broad that it allows any person ‘claiming to be aggrieved by a discriminatory or an unfair practice’ to file a discrimination complaint with the commission or even file a lawsuit in a Colorado district court,” ADF points out. “The law says ‘information from any source sufficient to suggest that a discriminatory or unfair practice has been or is being committed’ is grounds to initiate a charge, meaning someone could bring a charge against XX-XY Athletics after simply reading its website.”

“The First Amendment prohibits government officials from forcing individuals and businesses to express only the government’s preferred views on hotly debated issues like men competing in women’s sports,” the legal organization asserts.

Colorado’s new regulations embrace gender ideology and shred religious freedom

Colorado’s new regulations embrace gender ideology and shred religious freedom

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