The federal government has ruled that the largest high school district in Illinois violated the law by allowing a transgender student to use only part of the girls’ locker room.
Palatine-based Township High School District 211 didn’t provide sufficient accommodation for a formerly male transgender student, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights concluded after a two-year investigation.
The district changes the name, gender and pronouns of transgender students on school records and allows them to use the bathroom of their identified gender and play on the sports team of that gender. But the district allows the students to use only a blocked-off, unused portion of locker rooms, citing the privacy of the other 12,000-plus students in the district.
The department ruled the district didn’t go far enough in accomodating transgender students, giving it 30 days to reach an agreement with authorities or risk having federal education funding suspended or terminated, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities — this is a basic civil right,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said. “Unfortunately, Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls’ locker room.”
The district’s superintendent insists the schools are not violating the law, saying the Obama administration is overreaching its authority in condemning them.
“The students in our schools are teenagers, not adults, and one’s gender is not the same as one’s anatomy,” Superintendent Daniel Cates said. “Boys and girls are in separate locker rooms — where there are open changing areas and open shower facilities — for a reason.
“We celebrate and honor differences among all students and we condemn any vitriolic messages that disparage transgender identity or transgender students in any way,” Cates added.
