Judge To Hear Arguments On Palatine Schools' Transgender Locker Room Policy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A federal judge in Chicago could decide Monday whether to force Palatine High School District 211 to stop allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender they identify with.
Student A, a transgender student who identifies as female, has been able to use the girls' locker rooms and bathrooms in District 211 since the district reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education in December.
A group called Students and Parents for Privacy (SPP) challenged the practice in May, saying it violates privacy expectations.
The ACLU of Illinois is representing the Student A. Spokesman Ed Yohnka said, while people have a right to privacy, they don't have a right to bar people from a public space because they feel uncomfortable.
Attorneys for SPP, which is made up of 51 families in the district, asked for an immediate halt to the practice, saying it's a radical departure from previous privacy decisions and amounts to bullying by the federal government because it threatened to withhold Title IX funds from any district that didn't go along.
WBBM reached out to the plaintiff's attorneys for comment but did not hear back.
The hearing began at 9:30 a.m. Monday, which is the first day of the new school year in District 211.
