Education officials said the decision was the first of its kind on the rights of transgender students, which are emerging as a new cultural battleground in public schools across the country. In previous cases, federal officials had been able to reach settlements giving access to transgender students in similar situations. But in this instance, the school district in Palatine, Ill., has not yet come to an agreement, prompting the federal government to threaten sanctions. The district, northwest of Chicago, has indicated a willingness to fight for its policy in court.

DoE gave the district 30 days to reach a solution or face enforcement, which could include administrative law proceedings or court action by DoJ. The district could lose all or a portion of its Title IX funding.

In a letter sent yesterday DoE's Office of Civil Rights explained again to the school the lengths that the student has to go to in an attempt to "not stand out" and how crushing it was for the school to not allow her to use the locker room with the other girls. She wants "to be a girl like every other girl" and views the district's decision as denial of her identity.

The student told OCR that she has her own sense of privacy and would be as discrete as possible while changing, even using privacy curtains if the school made them available.

The student's mother disclosed that the school district's denial of locker room privileges has led to members of her athletic team excluding her from team social functions and disparaging her in social media.

All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities — this is a basic civil right. Unfortunately, Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls’ locker room.

--Catherine Lhamon, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement

District Superintendent Daniel Cates said in a statement Monday that he disagreed with the decision, which he described as “a serious overreach with precedent-setting implications."

What our client wants is not hard to understand: She wants to be accepted for who she is and to be treated with dignity and respect — like any other student.

The district’s insistence on separating my client from other students is blatant discrimination. Rather than approaching this issue with sensitivity and dignity, the district has attempted to justify its conduct by challenging my client’s identity as a girl.

--John Knight, Illinois ACLU

The student, who has identified as a girl from a young age, has changed her name, received a passport as a female and is undergoing hormone therapy, the Education Department said.

The district has received moral support from the Thomas More Society, which has praised it for holding strong to its position.

Demoya Gordon, an attorney at Lambda Legal, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, said the Palatine case was unusual for how vocal the school district had been.

[The DoE's action] is telling [other districts] that they have to respect all students’ gender identities.

--Gordon

Lawyers at DoE and DoJ view discrimination on the basis of gender identity to be discrimination on the basis of sex, since definitions of transgender usually rely on relation to sex assigned at birth.