A Scottsdale, Ariz. faith-based organization is challenging a decision by Le Roy High School staff to allow a transgender student to use the boys’ locker rooms and restrooms.
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After an investigation stemming from a 2013 complaint by the ACLU, and months of negotiations, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found Township High School District 211 was violating federal non-discrimination rules.
Lhamon went on to say the district can provide access to the student while also respecting all students’ privacy and encouraged the district to comply with the law and resolve the case.
Telephone calls to the District 211 for comment weren’t immediately returned.
“This decision makes me extremely happy – because of what it means for me, personally, and for countless others”, the student said in a statement released by the ACLU.
District 211 has 30 days to change the policy, or risk losing millions in federal funding.
The Department of Education argued that the district’s policy tramples on the student’s right to not be sexually discriminated.
“This practice has made multiple male students very uncomfortable and has caused them to modify their daily activities to try to avoid sharing private facilities with a classmate who is a biological female”, according to the letter, which legal counsel Matt Sharp said was prompted by a parent’s concern.
“We recognize that this is an emerging and critical matter for school districts nationwide”, the statement continued. He added that District 211’s insistence on separating the student from other girls “is blatant discrimination”.
District 211 Superintendent Daniel Cates said in a statement the district does not agree with the department’s stance.
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The policy the department “seeks to impose on District 211 is a serious overreach with precedent-setting implications”, Cates said. Though our position has been inaccurately reported, a transgender student may use his or her gender-identified locker room simply by utilizing individual measures of privacy when changing clothes or taking showers. In California, two school districts agreed to allow transgender students to use female restrooms under the feds’ pressure. “Thus, the evidence establishes that, given Student A’s stated intention to change privately, the district could afford equal access to its locker rooms”.
