A Christian camp that has been running for more than 70 years may lose its license for not complying with Colorado’s new LGBT mandates for sex-specific facilities.
IdRaHaJe, a cherished Christian camp in Colorado, faces potential shutdown after its refusal to comply with the state’s gender ideology policies.
Nestled in the scenic mountains of Bailey, a town 30 miles southwest of Denver with less than 10,000 residents, IdRaHaJe has been serving children ages six to 17 since its founding in 1948 through various programs, such as summer camps, off-site backpacking, and camping trips. The camp’s name comes from the hymn “I’d Rather Have Jesus!” and reflects its commitment to Christianity.
IdRaHaJe’s mission to “win souls for Jesus Christ” shapes all its programs and operations, including its stance on sex and gender. The camp states in its doctrinal statement that “God has immutably created each person as either male or female in His image,” emphasizing that “the differentiation of the sexes, male and female, is part of the divine image in the human race.” By defining gender in terms of biological sex at birth, IdRaHaJe maintains that “any area of camp that is segregated by gender will be segregated by biological sex.”
Although IdRaHaJe is a private Christian organization, it has welcomed children of all faiths to its camps for 77 years, according to IdRaHaJe’s Executive Director Mike DeBoer. Each year, the camp serves 2,500 to 3,000 children from across Colorado. In 2024, IdRaHaJe received a score of 97 percent out of 100 percent and a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a respected organization that evaluates the effectiveness of nonprofits.
State Regulations on ‘Gender Identity’
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) regulates childcare facilities, including residential camps like IdRaHaJe, and conducts annual inspections for compliance. This year, the CDEC established a new regulation mandating resident camps provide access to restrooms, showers, dressing areas, and sleeping facilities that correspond with campers’ gender identities, rather than their biological sex. This means, while using female facilities, a girl may face a biological boy identifying as a transgender female.
DeBoer said Camp IdRaHaJe has successfully maintained its resident camp license since 1955.
“The new policy of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, however, is asking IdRaHaJe to choose between upholding its Biblical beliefs about biological sex and risk losing its license or abandoning its beliefs and mission by forcing girls and boys to shower, dress, and share sleeping quarters with campers of the opposite sex,” DeBoer said in an email statement.
DeBoer said IdRaHaJe requested a religious exemption. CDEC not only denied the request but told IdRaHaJe to “get a lawyer,” according to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker.
IdRaHaJe heeded the CDEC regulator’s “advice” and hired Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) as its legal counsel. ADF filed a lawsuit May 12 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, seeking the court to affirm IdRaHaJe’s right to religious freedom and ability to operate according to its core beliefs.
“The government has no place telling religious summer camps that it’s ‘lights out’ for upholding their religious beliefs about human sexuality,” ADF Legal Counsel Andrea Dill said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the staff at IdRaHaJe is preparing to open the summer camp June 8, and many Colorado families have already enrolled. IdRaHaJe remains committed to running all facilities in alignment with its religious convictions, DeBoer said.
The CDEC officials, however, are slated to conduct inspections between June and July. Without court intervention, the CDEC could impose fines or revoke IdRaHaJe’s resident camp license for non-compliance with the state’s new gender policy. Without a license, IdRaHaJe would have to abruptly close its summer camp mid-season and send thousands of excited children home. The closure of summer camps would also inflict severe economic damage on a small rural community like Bailey.
Colorado’s Extreme Bill on Gender
While the U.K. Supreme Court recently defined “women” based on biological sex, Democrats in Colorado persist in imposing anti-biological, twisted gender policies. Besides the CDEC’s new gender policy, the Democrat-led state legislature recently passed a highly controversial transgender bill that classified deadnaming — using a person’s legal name instead of their chosen name — as discrimination. Following public outcry, lawmakers removed the most contentious provision, which would have allowed judges in custody cases to consider misgendering or deadnaming a child as abuse.
Still, Brittany Vessely, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, criticized the legislation.
“Requiring faith-based organizations to defer to a person’s chosen gender identity forces them to violate their religious beliefs to avoid civil liability or shut down,” Vessely said when she testified against the bill at the Colorado State Capitol.
Colorado finds itself in a crucial conflict between religious freedom and leftist ideology. Courageous Coloradans like Christian baker Jack Phillips and graphic designer Lorie Smith have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to defending their faith and constitutional rights, regardless of the personal and professional costs involved. The staff at IdRaHaJe Camp finds themselves in good company.
Tucker said as long as individuals continue to advocate for their religious freedom and constitutional rights, “ADF will stand right next to them.”
