Transgender rights and new areas of law

redux · Nov 3, 2015

An interesting case involving a transgender high school student is in the news.

Illinois School Must Give Transgender Student Access to Locker Room: Feds

An Illinois school district is breaking federal law by denying a transgender student full access to the girls' locker room, the Department of Education said Monday.

In aletter to Township High School District 211, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said the district violatedTitle IX, which prohibits education discrimination on the basis of sex.

The decision was the result of a nearly two-year-long investigation into the Palatine, Illinois, district's policies, sparked byan ACLU complaint filed on behalf of the transgender student, who has identified as a girl for years.

The 2013 complaint said that the student, who has decided to keep her identity private, had legally changed her name and undergone hormone treatments and was largely recognized by the school as a girl.

She was allowed to use the girls' bathroom and participate on female sports teams at the Chicago-area high school but was barred from changing in three female locker rooms and instead was forced to use a separate bathroom, the complaint said.

The student "was 'crushed' by the district's treatment of her, which she said indicated the school did not accept her as female," the OCR wrote Monday. "She wanted to be like every other girl."

After months of negotiations with OCR, the district decided in October that transgender students could change in the locker rooms of the gender they identify with — but would have to use a curtained-off area.

"After serious and lengthy consideration, the District will continue to provide private accommodations for transgender students to ensure a respectful school environment, and will not allow unrestricted access to its locker rooms as directed by OCR,"the district said in a statementon Oct. 12.

District Superintendent Daniel Cates said in an accompanyingcolumn in a local newspaperanda front-page letter in Township 211's newsletterthat the reason behind the the administration's resistance was to protect privacy rights of all 12,000 students in the district's five high schools.

"The mandated policy that OCR attempts to impose on District 211 would have national precedent-setting implications," Cates wrote in the Daily Herald. "The potential loss of federal funds is significant, but we believe the loss of appropriateness, reason and privacy for teenagers is also significant."
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I come down of the side of the girl and the civil right complaint but I can understand to some extent the school's position. In every other aspect, the school treats the student as a girl (access to girls restrooms, permitted to play on girls athletic teams, etc. -- see the letter). That last step of locker room and shower access is a big step to accept for some.

On the other side, conservative media are screaming "Schools Must Offer Mixed Sex Showers" and that doesnt help in what is a new area of law that will be very uncomfortable for some.

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Transgender rights and new areas of law

redux Very Tilted

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Transgender rights and new areas of law

redux Very Tilted

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