Illinois lawmakers, ACLU weigh in on metro-east school’s transgender bathroom policy
State politicians and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois have waded into the ongoing debate over Waterloo District 5’s transgender bathroom policies, which have become the focus of contentious school board meetings and led to the creation of opposing petitions.
Three Republican politicians attended the most recent board meeting July 17: former state Sen. Darren Bailey, state Rep. David Friess and state Sen. Terri Bryant. A representative of U.S. Rep. Mike Bost also was in attendance. Bailey and Bost are facing off in the 2024 Republican primary for Illinois’ 12th Congressional District.
All four officials have expressed their support for the parents and students who oppose a recently-implemented policy that may allow trans students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity as long as they coordinate a “gender identity plan” with their parents and the district.
Meanwhile, the ACLU issued a statement on July 21 in support of the district’s leadership for resisting pressure to repeal the policy, which would lead to violations of Illinois law and potentially open the district up to legal liability that could cost taxpayer dollars.
The district adopted the new policy at its May board meeting, a couple months after a group of about 135 students at Waterloo High School engaged in a protest against trans students using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity.
The district subsequently investigated the incident as potentially planned harassment of transgender students. Superintendent Brian Charron said there were some elements of harassment that occurred that day, which the district addressed with the involved students.
Before the protest, the district’s relevant policy — section 7:10 of the policy manual — broadly outlined that “equal educational and extracurricular opportunities shall be available for all students” and that “no student shall, based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity be denied equal access to programs, activities, services, or benefits or be limited in the exercise of any right, privilege, advantage, or denied equal access to educational and extracurricular programs and activities.”
The new policy says “students are prohibited from using restrooms not associated with their biological sex” unless a student follows an administrative procedure to develop a gender identity plan with the school and their parents.
The goals of developing such a plan are to anticipate any issues that may occur and provide support to the student, the policy says. This includes identifying a restroom for the student to use, which “could be a gender neutral restroom or the restroom of the opposite biological sex.”
“Our community seems to be torn. There’s two sides. Both sides are upset about the policy, from one angle or another,” Charron said. “Some people argue that it’s too restrictive, and others are arguing that it’s not restrictive enough.”
Stand-up For Students
The district has said the new policy complies with both state and federal law that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and allows transgender students to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. Therefore, Charron said he doesn’t anticipate the board making any changes to the policy at this point.
Nonetheless, the public participation period of the board meetings has been consumed by discussion of the topic.
Eight people spoke during the public participation period of the July 17 meeting, including members of the Stand-up For Students and Waterloo Listens groups, both of which have started petitions since the new policy was adopted.
The Stand-up For Students petition asks the board to revoke the current bathroom policy and replace it with one that requires students to use the bathroom or locker room that aligns with their sex at birth.
The petition has gained just over 1,500 signatures between the offline version that was started on June 1 and the online version that went live on July 6, according to Elizabeth Mifflin, who was third to speak at the meeting.
Mifflin did not want to provide further comment for this article.
Waterloo Listens
Daniel Flaum, a member of Waterloo Listens, also spoke at Monday’s board meeting.
The organization was formed in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd to promote “education, empathy, mutual accountability, and justice for all.” Flaum said in an interview that Waterloo Listens has members who are trans or know trans people in the community, and the group supports them “just as much as we would support anybody else who has a minority voice that hasn’t been able to find a reasonable platform in this community.”
Waterloo Listens created a counter petition — beginning in late June with signatures on paper and launching an online version on July 5 — to the Stand-up For Students petition. Their petition has garnered more than 300 signatures so far between the online and offline versions.
Their petition requests that the board not adopt policies in violation of state and federal law, which could subject the district to lawsuits that would require taxpayer dollars. Instead, their petition requests that the school use taxpayer money on safety upgrades in restrooms and changing rooms like floor-to-ceiling stalls, distress buttons and a greater number of single-occupancy bathrooms.
Flaum said that while Waterloo Listens finds certain aspects of the new policy problematic, especially for trans students who come from unsupportive homes, they find the policy acceptable at this time to move the community and district forward.
“Our hope is that the focus will shift from actual policy on restroom use, to physical upgrades that will protect all students from harassment of any kind,” he said.
Charron said there are some single-occupancy bathrooms in areas controlled by staff, like the nurse’s office, library and administrative office, and that the board has planned modifications to provide stalls around urinals in some of the restrooms. Beyond that, the board has not committed to any other specific direction at this point, he said.
In the past couple weeks, Flaum said, Waterloo Listens has been focused on supporting trans students and their parents as they have had to navigate a hostile environment at the board meetings.
Flaum said the group accomplished that, increasing its turnout eightfold at the most recent meeting.
“We had lots of people come out and demonstrate that trans people are not alone in this community. They are here, they belong here and they have allies,” he said.
During his remarks to the school board, Flaum cited two studies.
The first was a study published in an American Medical Association journal in 2022 that found cisgender youth were just as likely to report perpetrating sexual violence as gender minority youth, and that gender minority youth were more likely to report experiencing sexual violence.
The second study Flaum cited was published in 2022 by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law that found that less than 1.5% of American children between the ages of 13 and 17 identify as transgender.
The findings of these studies, Flaum said in his remarks, show that the perpetrators of assaults in school bathrooms or changing rooms are more likely to be cisgender than trans.
Politicians weigh in, superintendent responds
A spokesman for Bost’s office said the congressman has spoken with local officials and committees of jurisdiction in Congress expressing his concerns and also cosponsored the Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act of 2023.
The bill — which was introduced in February and is still early in the legislative process — defines sex under Title IX as a person’s biological sex at birth and specifies that schools will not lose federal funding or be prohibited from having sex-segregated bathrooms or locker rooms under Title IX.
In a written statement, Bost said: “It’s wrong to force students to share restrooms with the opposite God-given gender; and it’s frustrating that school districts often feel they have no choice but to accept it. It’s an issue that hits home for parents because they’re being told time and again that their values don’t matter. They’re being told that their children need to accept unnerving situations to appease the whims of woke activists. It’s just nonsensical, and it’s not right.”
Bailey — who gained statewide attention for his opposition to COVID-related restrictions but lost his November bid to unseat J.B. Pritzker as governor — said in a written statement that multiple parents and students had reached out and asked him to attend the meeting.
“I went to pray with and support those parents and students; to let them know they have a voice, and that voice is being heard as they take a stand against woke bathroom policies that defy common sense,” Bailey said. “Parents can no longer afford to remain silent or allow their elected representatives to avoid the fight and deliver no results as the left’s radical agenda infiltrates our children’s schools.”
In response, Superintendent Charron expressed frustration that none of the elected officials contacted him personally in advance of last week’s meeting.
“I find myself very perplexed by the stances taken by politicians recently... those that were present and/or represented at our last meeting of the Board of Education,” he wrote in an email to the BND. “I’m surprised they announced to constituents their intent to attend our meeting without reaching out to myself as superintendent, or any of the members of our Board of Education. I’m even more perplexed by what comments a few of these politicians have provided the BND in preparation for this article, rather than engage with us directly with their concerns. I encourage your readers to read through their comments very closely.”
Charron said that the district’s policy is designed to comply with provisions of the Illinois Humans Rights Act, including a gender-related identity protection that was added to the Act in 2006. That protection remained in the act during the tenures of Bailey, Bryant and Friess when they voted in favor of adding additional protections in 2021.
“Did they state any objection to the law while voting to add additional protections?” Charron wrote. “To suggest our Board of Education is appeasing the whims of woke activists is completely unfair and irresponsible. Are our politicians suggesting that our school should violate the law? What protections are they willing to offer Waterloo residents (whose property taxes fund the legal fees of our school district) should our Board of Education adopt policy as they seem to be advocating for publicly? I encourage each of them to engage with us and offer a legal solution to this matter, rather than simply attempt to profit politically from this controversy.”
ACLU statement
The ACLU’s written statement applauded the district for resisting calls to break the law and offered support for the district’s leadership.
Edwin C. Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Illinois, sent this statement to the BND:
“The School Board of Waterloo CUSD #5 is fulfilling its obligations by resisting the pressure of a handful of loud, angry voices calling for them to abandon their policy allowing students to utilize restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Not only are such calls based on discredited stereotypes and misunderstandings about transgender students, but heeding them would also violate of Illinois law.
“Giving in to these calls as an institution charged with educating young students would send a terrible message – that adherence to laws is optional and dependent on who yells the loudest,” he said.
“We note that at the most recent Board meeting, a number of elected officials and candidates for public office were in attendance, offering support for those calling for the policy to be changed. While every public official can oppose any policy – we call on these leaders to eschew suggestions that Waterloo can somehow place itself above state law. Discussion of these issues already can be emotional; public officials – and those seeking office – have a responsibility to be clear to everyone about what the law requires.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
