Vicki Wilson insists Parents for Privacy’s stance in opposition to transgender bathroom and locker room access is about protecting the rights of each and every student.
Parents for Privacy previously filed suit after administrators at Palatine-based Township High School District 211 agreed to grant a transgender student access to the girls’ locker room in 2013.
Last year, a second transgender student at the same school filed suit alleging that she too had been denied access to girls’ locker room, prompting Wilson and her organization to again take a stance.
“This student wants more, wants to change clothes right next to the girls in the locker room,” Wilson said during a recent appearance on “Chicago’s Morning Answer." “It’s not enough that he has access to the locker room. The district sided with this extreme position and they are still being sued by the only student they decided to protect two years ago.”
Nova Maday recently filed suit through the American Civil Liberties Union in Cook County Circuit Court alleging that Palatine-based Township High School District 211 prevented her from being allowed to dress in the girls’ locker room during physical education class, adversely impacting both her grades and mental health.
The Maday suit came after school officials had moved to allow the 18-year-old senior to change in facilities matching her gender identity but only if she agreed to dress in an “unspecified private changing area” within the locker room.
“Our solution is accommodate, don’t violate,” Wilson said. “What about all the other girls in our locker room who have emotional distress? I believe there are people who think there is no difference between a boy with gender dysphoria and a biological girl.”
Wilson said Parents for Privacy believes students should be separated based on biological sex and that an “open-air locker room” is not a solution.
“We are the largest high school district in this state and I believe that is why they are trying to make an example of us,” Wilson said.
Maday’s suit maintains that she has presented as female since 2014 and in a written statement she asserts “I just want to be treated like every other girl in our school," according to the Chicago Tribune.
In the 2013 case, federal authorities ruled that the district violated federal law and was in violation of Title IX laws governing gender identity.
Three years later, then President Barack Obama issued a directive mandating that schools accommodate transgender students, including allowing access to locker rooms or other facilities based on gender identity.
Within his first month in office, President Donald Trump moved to roll back those protections, taking the stance “decisions on access were best made at a local level,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
“We just celebrated the two-year anniversary where the district decided to cave to (the) Obama administration,” Wilson said. “Our lawsuit does not ask for a dime, only that we institute a policy that treats children fairly.”
"Chicago’s Morning Answer" is co-hosted by Dan Proft, who also is a principal of Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication.
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