The federal government has declared that a Chicago school district has discriminated against a transgender student. The school district has 30 days to provide the student with equal access or lose federal funding.
The United States government has ordered a school district in suburban Chicago to provide equal access to all of its female facilities to one of their transgender students. The school district has 30 days to comply with the order or the district will lose all of its federal funding.
The student’s name has not been released but was represented in the affair by The American Civil Liberties Union, according to The New York Daily News. The federal government demanded that the school district provide the student with equal access to all female facilities, including the girls locker room. They have a month to comply or the federal government will pull the plug on all of the district’s federal funding.
While the student and the ACLU were thrilled with the decision, the Township High School District 211 found the decision to be an example of the federal government overreaching its authority. Following a months long investigation, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights concluded that the school district had violated federal nondiscrimination statutes.
The federal government has mandated that transgender students can use the facilities they identify with. When it comes to locker room facilities, they will be allowed to use them if they shower and change privately while doing so. The student will not be afforded a separate place isolated from the main facilities as the government believes that it would stigmatize the student and cause emotional hardship.
Until recently, the school district had refused to go along with the federal government’s decision and continued to deny access to the female facilities and lockers for the transgender student. The government stated that all students have a right, a fundamental right, to equal access and enjoyment of all school facilities and activities.
The student said in a public statement that the school had stigmatized the student’s situation and had made the student feel abnormal and ostracized. The current student in question identifies herself as a girl and has been using the girls restrooms all along. Also, the student plays on several of the girls sports teams. The district receives about $6 million a year in federal funding.
