The Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board of education is considering allowing transgender students to use the locker rooms of the gender with which they identify, without requiring the use of privacy stalls, according to the Daily Herald.
The matter will be discussed at a board meeting the evening of Thursday, Sept. 19.
If it were to be approved, the proposal would be just the latest in a years-long controversy set the stage for numerous public accommodations access disputes across the country involving the transgender community.
A transgender student sued in 2015 to be allowed to access to the girls locker room. The Obama-era federal department of education threatened the school's Title IX funding. The District cut a deal on behalf of the student, which in turn resulted in more litigation from parents and anti-LGBT activists. In 2017, another transgender student, Nova Maday, sued the district, alleging that they had made accommodations for the original girl, but not other transgender students. That litigation is still pending.
The Sept. 19 meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Palatine High School, 1111 N. Rohlwing Rd. in Palatine.
The matter will likely be revisited at the board's Oct. 17 meeting, which is the earliest the proposal can be approved.
In a Sept. 12 statement, officials from ACLU of Illinois, which is representing Maday said, "Today is a long-deserved victory for Student A, Nova Maday, and every student who is transgender who has ever walked the halls of a District 211 high school. After years of resisting, we are pleased to see the district's leadership has recognized that students who are transgender deserve to be treated fairly and equally in every way, and deserve dignity and respect in all aspects of their lives.
"We look forward to District 211 joining the roster of schools across Illinois who provide this fair treatment for all of their students."
Daily Herald's article is at www.dailyherald.com/news/20190912/district-211-considering-unrestricted-locker-room-access-for-transgender-students .