WASHINGTON (LN) — The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched investigations Thursday into 36 Illinois public school districts to determine whether they have included sexual orientation and gender ideology content in pre-K through 12th-grade classrooms and whether they have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the probe aims to stop local school authorities from keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms.
“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,” Dhillon said. “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 also assess whether the districts limit access to single-sex intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex.
The Civil Rights Division stated it is examining whether the districts, which receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Supreme Court precedents on parental rights. The department cited Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor as recent examples of the Court reiterating those rights.
The Civil Rights Division said it has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.
The 36 districts under investigation include Bloomington Public Schools District 87, Community High School District 155, DeKalb Community Unit School District 428, and the Noble Network of Charter Schools.