The U.S. Department of Justice has launched investigations into dozens of school districts in Illinois, including ones in Lake and McHenry counties, over sexual orientation and gender ideology teachings.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said Thursday they launched investigations into 36 public school districts in Illinois.
The investigations are to determine whether the school districts have included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any class for grades pre-K-12.
The investigations will examine whether the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction.
The investigations 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,” Dhillon said.
The DOJ said it 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 precedents on parental rights as recently established in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor.
The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations, officials said.
Among the districts under investigation are Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155 and North Chicago-based Community Unit School District 187.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said the Trump Administration “continues to punish states” the president does not like and “this is yet another sham investigation carried out by an office with no regard for the rule of law or the well-being of the American people.”
“The Civil Rights Division used to investigate actual discrimination concerns to ensure all individuals are treated equally under the law, but they’re now focused on belittling the rights and humanity of LGBTQ+ communities,” Pritzker said.
The full list of districts include Atwood Heights School District 125, Bloomington Public Schools District 87, Bluford Unit School District 318, Buncombe Consolidated School District 43, Center Cass School District 66, Central School District 104, Community High School District 155, Country Club Hills School District 160, Crete-Monee School District 201-U, DeKalb Community Unit School District 428, East Dubuque Unit School District 119, Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401, Freeport School District 145, Galena Unit School District 120, Gillespie Community Unit School District 7, Iroquois County Community Unit School District 9, Leyden Community High School District 212, Lick Creek Community Consolidated School District 16, Lyons School District 103, Martinsville Community Unit School District C3, Meridian Community Unit School District 223, Noble Network of Charter Schools, North Chicago Community Unit School District 187, North Palos School District 117, Norwood Elementary School District 63, O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District No. 90, Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123, Odin Public School District 722, Oregon Community Unit School District 220, Pembroke Community Consolidated School District 259, Reavis Township High School District 220, Ridgeview Community Unit School District 19, Stockton Community Unit School District 206, Tamaroa School District 5, Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 and Will County School District 92.