An Illinois appellate court today issued a ruling finding that an appeal by Nova Maday in her lawsuit against Township High School District 211 in Palatine is moot because Ms. Maday has graduated from the high school she attended. A three-judge panel for the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court ruled that while Ms. Maday’s case remains active, and she is still free to make legal claims, the fact that she graduated from high school in May of 2018 makes this appeal of the trial court’s denial of a motion for a preliminary injunction is moot. The injunction would have required the high school to allow Nova use of the girls’ locker room just like any female student.
The lawsuit was filed in 2017 after the district denied Nova the use of the girls’ locker room during physical education class, isolating her from other students because she is transgender. The case was brought in state court, under the Illinois Human Rights Act.
The following can be attributed to John Knight, Director of the LGBTQ Rights Project at the ACLU of Illinois and lead attorney for Ms. Maday:
“The court’s decision is very narrow. The court would not consider an appeal of a trial court judge’s denial of a preliminary injunction because Nova graduated from high school in the spring of this year. At the same time, the court did recognize that Nova can continue to fight the school’s restrictive policies, and we will continue that fight. Every school district in the state should see that segregation and isolation of students who are transgender is not permitted in our state under the Human Rights Act.”
