EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Investigating Denver High School Over ‘All Gender’ Bathroom
The Trump administration opened an investigation into a Denver school district after one of its schools converted a women’s bathroom into an “all gender” bathroom in the name of “inclusivity and equity,” the Daily Wire has learned.
The Department of Education told Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero on Tuesday that its Office of Civil Rights was probing East High School over its new “’all gender’ bathroom,” according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire. The investigation comes after the school turned an exclusively female bathroom into a bathroom for both males and females over the winter break.
“According to recent local reporting, the District converted a girls’ restroom in East High School to a multi-stall all gender restroom,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote to Marrero. “As a result, East High School now has an exclusive restroom for male students and no restroom for female students on its second floor.”
The investigation will look at whether the new “all gender” bathroom violates the civil rights of female students who no longer have a private bathroom in that part of the school.
“OCR’s directed investigation will examine whether the District discriminates against students on the basis of sex by installing multi-stall all gender restrooms in District school facilities, in violation of Title IX and its implementing regulations,” Trainor wrote. “Be advised that OCR’s initiation of a directed investigation is not itself evidence of wrongdoing.”
Earlier this month, East High School announced that it had turned a women’s bathroom on the second floor of the high school into one for everyone to use, claiming it showed the school’s “commitment to inclusivity and equity, providing a welcoming space for all students.”
The school claimed the stalls were designed for “privacy” and “security,” saying in a frequently asked question page that “multi-stalled all gender bathrooms do not increase risk of violence or assault.”
“All gender bathrooms actually benefit the safety of transgender/gender non-conforming students who are at greater risk of violence when forced to use gendered restrooms,” the FAQ page said.
The change prompted complaints from local parents, who said the move would jeopardize their daughters’ privacy and safety.
“Administration has sacrificed the comfort of these young females for this dubious change by now limiting their options,” Loris Ramos told the school board earlier this month, according to 9News. “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.”
Trainor told The Daily Wire that the decision from the school appeared to be a clear violation of the law.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to eliminate radical gender theory and ordered the privacy of women’s bathrooms preserved throughout the federal government.