The U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office has found Denver Public Schools “all-gender” bathrooms are in violation of federal law which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
The all-gender bathrooms allow students to use those facilities based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex, which the education department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has found violates Title IX, authorities said in statement this week.
“Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” said acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Right Craig Trainer. “The Trump Administration will work relentlessly to hold accountable school districts that harbor the ideological fanatics and policies that sully students’ educational experience with sex discrimination.”
The department began an investigation into the school district shortly after President Donald Trump took office.
OCR found that in December 2024, East High School had converted a second floor, multi-stall restroom for girls into one for use by both sexes. According to the education department’s statement:
As a result, male students had access to a restroom designated exclusively for males on the floor, but female students did not. OCR determined the District violated Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination by placing the burden only on females to seek an exclusive restroom elsewhere, thereby denying their right to equal educational facilities and opportunities.
Trainer said with such a practice, the district was “creating a hostile environment for its students by endangering their safety, privacy, and dignity while denying them access to equal educational activities and opportunities
The department reported the bathroom conversion “allowed males to invade sensitive female-only facilities.” The statement continued:
The school received several complaints, including from a female student who reported that when her friend used the restroom, “boys kept staring at her, looking her up and down, kind of taunting her.” The student further shared that she was “very uncomfortable” with boys “being together in the same bathroom as [girls],” stating “our privacy and our rights has [sic] just been taken away.
“Multiple students and parents expressed concerns about sexual assault and privacy in their complaints,” the department reported, including the practice of male teacher frequently going to the restroom to “check on things.”
The District did seek to rectify its different treatment of female students by converting the boys’ restroom to all gender, “but but this does not remedy its violation of Title IX because males are still allowed to invade sensitive female-only facilities,” according to federal education authorities.
The department has proposed a resolution for the district that includes returning the bathrooms to their traditional designations based on biological sex, rescinding any policies that allow students to access intimate facilities based on gender identity, and adopting “biology-based definitions” for the words “male” and “female” in Title IX matters.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.