Transgender Locker Room Policy Lawsuit Against School Dropped

PALATINE, IL — A federal lawsuit filed a few years ago by a group of parents and students against Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 over policies allowing a transgender student partial access to a girls' locker room has been dropped. The Daily Herald reported the lawsuit was dropped Monday, weeks after a judge dismissed parts of the suit.

According to the news report, the group Students and Parents for Privacy sued District 211 in 2016, after school officials reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Education. The deal allowed a Fremd High School student known in documents as Student A, who graduated in 2017, limited access to girls locker rooms at the high school, but required Student A to change in a privacy stall.

"Over the course of nearly three years of litigation, one thing remained clear. There has never been any harm to non-transgender students from sharing restrooms and locker rooms with students whom they perceive as different," John Knight, LGBTQ & HIV advocacy director for the ACLU of Illinois, who sided with the school district in the case, said in a written statement.

However, the ACLU continues to represent former student Nova Maday in a state lawsuit against the district arguing that its policy is restrictive and discriminatory.

"This moment is an opportunity for District 211 to reject this cruelty and become a model for tolerance and humane treatment for all students, including those who are transgender," Knight added in the statement.

More coverage from Patch:

• Transgender Student Sues District 211 For Locker Room Access
• District 211 Reaches Settlement With Feds in Transgender Case
• District 211: Transgender Student Not Allowed Open Access to Locker Room
• Local Residents Sound Off on District 211 Decision
• District 211 Transgender Case Making National News
• Mother of Transgender Student Who Was Denied Access to Locker Room Speaks Out

In November 2015, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights determined School District 211 was breaking the law by not allowing a transgender student full access to the girls' locker room. The decision, education officials said, was the first of its kind regarding the rights of transgender students, the New York Times reports.