Chicago Public Schools, Illinois Board of Ed violated civil rights law, complaint alleges
CHICAGO - The Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools were accused by two conservative organizations of violating students’ civil rights with their policies allowing transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
The groups alleged that the ISBE and CPS have forced students to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight stays with students of the opposite sex, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights
The complaint was filed by the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, a nonprofit that says it advocates for conservative policy solutions on a range of issues, and the Liberty Justice Center, a law firm which has championed conservative legal causes.
Civil rights violation allegation
What we know:
The complaint argues that CPS and ISBE are enforcing policies that conflict with Title IX, the 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education.
The groups asked the Office for Civil Rights to investigate the ISBE and CPS to "ensure that these entities comply with Title IX or risk losing federal funding."
They also argued that ISBE and CPS policies misinterpret Title IX by asserting that it protects individuals on the basis of their "gender identity," rather than their sex at birth.
The complaint cited interim guidelines on "gender & sexuality protections for CPS students" from July 2024. The guidance states, "It is a violation of the Comprehensive Non-Discrimination Policy to deny a person access to a facility that corresponds to their identity, or to require a court-order name change or other documentation as a condition to use a specific facility."
It added that "individuals must be allowed to use facilities in a manner that makes them feel safest and most included in the school."
CPS specifically was also accused of mishandling recent "inappropriate behavior" within its school bathrooms. The complaint cited multiple news stories about recent legal settlements the district approved with victims of sexual assault and other instances of violence.
"These settlements speak volumes about CPS’s refusal to police inappropriate behavior in its school bathrooms," the complaint stated, adding, "These horrible cases of neglect and abuse of vulnerable students, combined with the school district’s blithe dismissal of the prospect that a male student might lie about his ‘gender identity’ to gain access to the girls’ bathroom as ‘not something that happens,’ raise grave concerns that CPS is incapable or unwilling to prevent criminal behavior that occurs in its intimate facilities."
None of the cases cited in the complaint appeared to involve transgender students.
What they're saying:
In a statement, Bob Eitel, president and co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies said:
"Congress intended Title IX to ensure that schools provide equal educational opportunities without regard to sex, not to erase biological reality and force women and girls into uncomfortable and unsafe situations that violate the very law designed to protect them. ISBE and CPS are pushing radical policies that prioritize ideology over student safety and privacy and parental rights. We will not stand by while states and school districts sacrifice civil rights on the altar of gender ideology."
The other side:
A spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Education declined to comment on the matter since it was pending before the Office of Civil Rights.
A CPS spokesperson also declined to comment.