Judge Advises Against Injunction to End D211 Policy Allowing Transgender Student Locker Room Access

PALATINE, IL — A judge recommended denying a preliminary injuction that would prevent a transgender student from using her high school's girls locker room and bathrooms and reversing a 2015 agreement between Township High School District 211 and the U.S. Department of Education, according to the district.

The recommendation, which is not a final ruling, was handed down Tuesday, Oct. 18, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert. It now goes before District Judge Jorge Alonso, who is presiding over a lawsuit brought by a conservative Christian group representing 51 district families in May looking to overturn D112's policy allowing a Fremd High School transgender student — known as Student A — to use school facilities, such as restrooms and locker rooms, that apply to her gender identity.

Student A has been represented by the ACLU in these legal matters, and the organization was allowed in June to intervene in this case. The group also is representing two younger transgender students who attend District 211 feeder school districts.

In recommending against the injunction, Gilbert said the D211 "balanced the interests of all its students when it decided to permit transgender students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity and to allow Student A to use the girls’ locker rooms at her high school." Balancing those interests included installing changing stations and other privacy accommodations, the district said.

"In addition, the District has made clear that any cisgender high school student who does not want to use a restroom or a locker room with a transgender student is not required to do so," Gilbert wrote in his recommendation.

More Coverage on Patch

• ACLU Can Intervene in Lawsuit Over Transgender Locker Room Access: Judge
• Letter Asks D211 to Give Transgender Students Open Access to Locker Rooms
• 51 Families Sue Palatine District 211 Over Transgender Student's Locker Room Use
• District 211 Reaches Settlement With Feds in Transgender Case
• District 211: Transgender Student Not Allowed Open Access to Locker Room

The magistrate judge also said Alliance Defending Freedom — the group representing the district families — didn't prove it would win it's lawsuit, nor did it show that any federal laws were broken by the agreement between D211 and the Department of Education, the Daily Herald reports.

"School policies should protect the privacy and safety of all students, no matter who they are," Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement concerning the recommendation. "Young students should be not be forced into an intimate setting like a locker room with someone of the opposite sex. The court should exercise its authority to stop the DOE and [Department of Justice] from redefining federal law and violating the privacy of thousands of students. We are hopeful that the federal courts will ultimately decide in favor of the privacy rights of all students."

The likelihood, however, that Alonso will hand down a ruling opposite of Gilbert's recommendation is unlikely. In cases like this, the decisions of presiding judges are usually in line with magistrates' recommendations, ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka told the Herald.

John Knight, director of the ACLU of Illinois' LGBT and HIV Project, was pleased with the recommendation and released the following statement:

"Judge Gilbert’s decision is welcome news, reducing some of the uncertainty experienced by our clients in this case. The Judge plainly recognized that the organizations who filed this case are unable to demonstrate any harm to their clients from sharing restrooms and locker rooms with students they perceive as different, while Student A and other transgender students would have been isolated and stigmatized if they were forced out of the appropriate restrooms and locker rooms after using the facilities without incident for several years. …

"Barring Student A and other transgender students from the restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender challenges their basic identity and humanity, suggests that they should be ashamed of who they are, and puts them at serious of long-term emotional and psychological injury. We are pleased that Judge Gilbert rejected specious arguments about privacy and protected the interests of all the students."

The district also released a statement concerning Gilbert's findings:

"Since January, the District has implemented this agreement without any reports of incident or issue. Today’s recommended ruling means that the District can continue to provide locker room access for transgender students on a case-by-case basis. Further, it affirms the District’s position that an injunction is unwarranted as there is no evidence of a hostile environment because of the locker room accommodations, and no invasion of students’ constitutional rights to privacy."

Appeal requests and objections to the recommendations can be filed within 14 days, the Herald reports. Alonso should issue his ruling in the case in the coming weeks, according to the district.

More via the Daily Herald

image via Township High School District 211

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