ACLU of Illinois has appealed a Jan. 25 decision by a Cook County judge refusing an injunction that would have allowed a transgender girl to use the girls locker room at her Palatine high school. The appeal was filed Feb. 7.
Nova Maday filed her lawsuit in Nov. 2017, maintaining that she has been unlawfully denied access to public accommodations. Maday has been required to change separately from other students before and after her gym class, usually in either the school nurse's office on in another isolated changing facility. This has resulted in her frequently being tardy for class, and she now would like access to the girls locker room.
"We decided after speaking with our client to file our appeal of this decision yesterday," said lead counsel John Knight in a Feb. 8 statement. "The Court's ruling allows District 211 officials to treat Nova and other students who are transgender differently from their fellow students, simply because they are transgender. Moreover, the Court's ruling hurts many other students who, under the current ruling, could face discrimination in their schools across this State because of who they arebecause of their religion, race, sex, or because they have a disability. Students with disabilities could, for example, be segregated in a part of the cafeteria where other students could avoid associating with or seeing them. Our civil rights laws must not be weakened and undermined in this way."
Maday is a student in Township High School District 211 which, in 2015, made national headlines when it contended with a similar lawsuit from another transgender girl seeking public accommodations access. The federal government intervened in that case, which was ultimately settled in the student's favor. A lawsuit against the school district and other government officials was subsequently filed by other families and is still being litigated. Maday and her attorneys say that school officials merely settled the details of the first student's case and did not subsequently craft any school-wide policies protecting trans students.
Related posting at the link: www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Judge-denies-request-by-ACLU-Illinois-for-injunction-in-locker-room-case/61707.html .