Department of Education investigates school for turning girls’ restroom ‘all-gender’

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has announced it will investigate Denver Public Schools in response to reports East High School converted an all-female restroom into an “all-gender”…

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has announced it will investigate Denver Public Schools in response to reports East High School converted an all-female restroom into an “all-gender” restroom.

DOE’s initial assessment of the situation found that labeling the restroom an “all-gender” restroom has resulted in female students having no designated restroom on the second floor of the high school building. As no changes impacted the all-male restroom on the second floor, DOE shared the district may be in violation of Title IX anti-discrimination protections.

“The alarming report that the Denver Public Schools District denied female students a restroom comparable with their male counterparts appears to directly violate the civil rights of the District’s female students,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights, said in DOE’s press release.

“Let me be clear: it is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. I have directed OCR’s Denver regional office to investigate this matter fully.”

Denver Public Schools has defended the move to establish an all-gender bathroom, claiming the impetus behind the switch was driven by student “need.”

“It was becoming a problem for kids that were trying to go to the bathroom during passing period,” Scott Pribble, director of external communication for DPS, told a local news station. “They were running out of time, being late to the next class because the one or two single stall bathrooms that they had to accommodate this just wasn’t enough for the need that was out there.”

Though the district claims the East High student body needed an all-gender restroom, parents in the community are concerned the elimination of a female bathroom creates an unfair environment for the girls.

In a letter to the school district initiating the investigation process, DOE cited a parent who spoke up during the school board’s January work session. The mother, identified as Lori Ramos, said the school administration “has sacrificed the comfort of these young females for this dubious change by now limiting their options.

“We, as adults, should be protecting students at all costs. Not using minors for this social experiment. This in my opinion is unlawful, immoral and is, in fact, a form of abuse.”

DOE’s decision to investigate the all-gender restroom builds upon the newly installed Trump administration’s re-establishment of biologically based gender norms in American institutions. President Trump has provoked the ire of progressive-leaning critics in his first weeks in office with moves such as issuing an executive order declaring the United States recognizes only two genders: male and female.