WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Justice is launching investigations into whether 36 public school districts in Illinois have included sexual orientation and gender ideology content in pre-K through twelve classes.
According to a release from the DOJ, the investigations will examine whether the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction and will also assess whether the Illinois School Districts have limited access to single-sex intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, 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 the 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.
Among the Illinois school districts under investigation is Bloomington Public Schools District 87.
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