US government orders school to provide women's locker room access for transgender student

The government has threatened to without hold federal funding if the school fails to comply

The US ordered the school to prpvide a girls locker room access for a transgender Illinois student (Reuters)

The US government has told a Chicago high school that it discriminated against a transfer student and said it had a month to provide her access to the women’s changing or else lose federal funding.

In a decision that will have ramifications across the country, the government’s Department of Education found that Township High School District 211 had violated federal non-discrimination rules.

The student, who has not been named, and the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought a complaint on her behalf, applauded the findings, while the school district called them “serious overreach”, Reuters reported.

The district said transgender students may use their gender-identified locker room if they change and shower privately. The government said a separate changing place was discriminatory because it subjected the student to stigma and different treatment.

The case is seen as clarifying federal rules on locker-room access at a time of expanding awareness of transgender issues - something that has happened amid a series of high-profile cases such as that Caitlyn Jenner.

In mid-October the school district, with five high schools and two alternative high schools west of Chicago, defied the government, continuing to deny full locker-room access for the transgender student

Assistant US Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said the high school was disobeying the law. “All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities – this is a basic civil right,” she said in a statement.

In a statement, the student said: “This decision makes me extremely happy – because of what it means for me, personally, and for countless others. The district’s policy stigmatised me, often making me feel like I was not a normal person.”

In September, dozens of students walked out of Hillsboro High School, located south of St Louis, to protest over a decision to grant access to the women's locker room to transgender student Lila Perry. Ms Perry told The Independent: "I didn’t manage things very well. I broke down a lot. Now, I stay very close to my friends. I have a very good support network.”