A Christian camp in Bailey is dismissing a lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Early Childhood as part of a settlement, in which the agency says religious organizations are exempt from a rule dealing with gender identity.

Camp IdRaHaJe filed the lawsuit in federal court against Lisa Roy, executive director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, and Carin Rosa, director of the department's Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration, in May. The camp said that a requirement from the department that camps allow children to use facilities that align with their gender identity violates the camp's longstanding practices and their religious freedom.

The policy at the time asked the camp, "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," Camp IdRaHaJe Executive Director Mike DeBoer said in a statement at the time. "We are asking the court to allow us to operate consistent with our beliefs and protect our campers from a gender ideology agenda."

"Government officials should never put a dangerous ideology ahead of kids," Andrea Dill, an attorney representing the camp with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nonprofit legal defense organization, said in a statement Wednesday. "State officials must respect religious ministries and their beliefs about human sexuality; they can't force a Christian summer camp to violate its convictions. We're pleased that Camp IdRaHaJe is again free to operate as it has for more than 75 years: as a Christian summer camp that accepts all campers without fear of being punished for its beliefs."

As part of the settlement, camp officials asked the department to affirm that the camp is not subject to the gender identity rules that are part of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, as it's a private Christian organization, not a "place of public accommodation."

The department, however, says those exemptions were long-standing, that it's "not aware of any reason the regulations cited in the Complaint would have prevented the Camp from opening or continuing to operate this summer," and that it never took any action against the camp based on the gender identity rules.

"We are glad to support Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je's understanding of their ability to provide a Christian camp experience to kids. The CDEC did not take any enforcement action against Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je related to any of the licensing regulations raised in the lawsuit and the camp was never under a threat of closure," Roy said in a statement Tuesday evening.