Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts to determine whether they have included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any class for grades pre-K-12.If they are teaching SOGI-related content, the investigations will examine whether the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction. The investigation will also assess whether the Illinois School Districts limit access to single-sex intimate spaces (such as bathrooms and locker rooms) and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex.“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children.
This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”The investigations will examine whether these Illinois School Districts, which are recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s extensive precedents on parental rights as recently reiterated in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor.The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.The Illinois School Districts under investigation include:Atwood Heights School District 125Bloomington Public Schools District 87Bluford Unit School District 318Buncombe Consolidated School District 43Center Cass School District 66Central School District 104Community High School District 155Country Club Hills School District 160Crete-Monee School District 201-UDeKalb Community Unit School District 428East Dubuque Unit School District 119Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401Freeport School District 145Galena Unit School District 120Gillespie Community Unit School District 7Iroquois County Community Unit School District 9Leyden Community High School District 212Lick Creek Community Consolidated School District 16Lyons School District 103Martinsville Community Unit School District C3Meridian Community Unit School District 223Noble Network of Charter SchoolsNorth Chicago Community Unit School District 187North Palos School District 117Norwood Elementary School District 63O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District No. 90Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123Odin Public School District 722Oregon Community Unit School District 220Pembroke Community Consolidated School District 259Reavis Township High School District 220Ridgeview Community Unit School District 19Stockton Community Unit School District 206Tamaroa School District 5Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215Will County School District 92