As we previously reported to you in the January 2018 and February 2018 editions of The Extra Mile, Township High School District 211 has been defending a legal action brought by a now graduated transgender student named Nova Maday. Maday, who identifies as female, sought equal access to the female locker-room. Maday claimed that the District permitted her to use the female locker-room but that, unlike other females, Maday was required to change in a privacy stall.
Maday appealed a lower court decision that denied her a preliminary injunction to use the female locker-room on the same terms as other female students. According to media reports, Cook County trial Judge Thomas Allen denied Maday a preliminary injunction because, according to him, the Illinois Human Rights Act does not require “full and equal access” to school facilities only “access,” something which the District provided to Maday.
The three judges of the First District Appellate Court of Illinois recently issued a decision on the appeal. According to media reports, the appellate court ruled that Maday’s request for a preliminary injunction is now moot because she graduated at the end of the 2017-2018 school year and no longer attends the District. However, Maday’s case may still proceed as a challenge to District 211’s policies, even if her request for a preliminary injunction is denied.
