Move To Block D211's Transgender Locker Room Policy Denied

PALATINE, IL — A federal judge denied a preliminary injuction against Township High School District 211 last week that would have prevented transgender students from using the locker rooms and bathrooms of the genders they identify with, blocking a 2015 agreement between the school system and the U.S. Department of Education. The injuction was part of a 2016 lawsuit to overtun the agreement brought by a conservative Christian group representing more than 50 district families.

In his ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso pointed to single-use facilities and privacy stalls the district created and made available for all students as reasons for not granting the injuction, according to the Daily Herald. Alonso's decision follows an October 2016 recommendation by a U.S. magistrate to deny the injuction.

"Given these protections, there is no meaningful risk that a student's unclothed body need be seen by any other person," Alonso wrote in his ruling.

The lawsuit against the district stems from the school's policy that allowed a Fremd High School transgender student — identified only as "Student A" — to use school locker rooms and bathrooms that apply to her gender identity. Student A, who has been represented by the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in these legal matters, has since graduated from Fremd. But two younger transgender students attending District 211 feeder schools also have been attached in this legal action, and the ACLU has represented them, as well.

RELATED: Judge Advises Against Injuction To End D211 Policy Allowing Transgender Student Locker Room Access

"Throughout this litigation, one thing remains clear. The groups who filed this case remain unable to demonstrate any harm to their clients resulting from sharing restrooms and locker rooms with students who they perceive as different," John Knight, director of the ACLU's LGBT and HIV Project, said in a statement Tuesday. "The plaintiffs’ fear-mongering and persistent refusal to respect the core gender of these students cannot change the simple fact that there is no legal justification for requiring District 211 to separate and stigmatize transgender students because of who they are."

A statement by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Arizona-based nonprofit representing district families in the lawsuit, expressed disappointment over the decision. The organization argued that the school system "opened its schools’ restrooms to the opposite sex — without informing parents — and then opened the girls’ locker room to a boy after the Obama administration’s Department of Education threatened the district’s federal funding," the statement said. The group also pointed to the Trump administration reverting to the previous interpretation of federal law.

"School policies should promote the rights and safety of all students, no matter who they are, but the school district placed its political preferences ahead of that and ahead of the law,” Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the ADF, said in a statement Friday, Dec. 29. “Because the court should have suspended the district’s privacy-violating policies, we will likely appeal."

Students and Parents for Privacy, the local organization for the 73 district parents and 63 students who brought forth the lawsuit, also said it wasn't out of the legal fight despite the ruling.

"We will not rest until the privacy rights, dignity, and well-being of all students are protected equally," the group wrote on its Facebook page following the decision.

RELATED: Transgender Student Sues District 211 For Locker Room Access

This isn't the only legal action involving a transgender student that District 211 faces. Nova Maday, an 18-year-old senior at Palatine High School, sued the school system in November, claiming she was denied access to the girls' locker room. The ACLU is representing her in this case.

More via the Daily Herald

Image via Township High School District 211