In November 2017, Nova Maday and the ACLU of Illinois filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against the Township High School District 211 in Palatine for denying Nova the use of the girls’ locker room during physical education class and separating her from other students because she is transgender. The goal of the suit is a court order requiring District 211 to treat transgender students the same as non-transgender students with respect to their use of the locker room and to stop segregating Nova and others because they are transgender.
Today, Judge Thomas Allen denied an ACLU motion for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed Ms. Maday to use the locker rooms without being required to change in a segregated area.
Nova Maday responded to the decision below:
“I am disappointed with the decision today. To me, this is a simple question – am I going to be treated just like any other girl in my school. All I want is to be accepted by my school for who I am – a girl – and be able to take gym and use the locker room to change clothes like the other girls in my class.”
John Knight, LGBTQ & HIV Project Director of the ACLU of Illinois also responded to the decision:
“Clearly, we are disappointed in this decision. We continue to believe that the school is wrong to discriminate against our client. There is no exception under our non-discrimination laws that allows a school to treat transgender students differently because of lack of understanding or discomfort about transgender people. We are consulting with our client in order to decide how to move forward in the case in light of this decision.”
