Appellate court calls part of District 211 transgender graduate's lawsuit moot

An Illinois appeals court has ruled as moot a transgender graduate's request for a preliminary injunction that would have forced Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 to let her use a girls locker room like any other female student while a lawsuit over the issue is pending.

Nova Maday, who graduated from Palatine High School in May, is appealing a Cook County circuit court ruling in her case against District 211, which denied her the full access to the girls locker room early this year. Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Allen also rejected her demand for the locker room access while the case remains active.

While the three-justice First District of the Illinois Appellate Court will allow the case to continue, it ruled Friday there is no reason to force District 211 to let Maday have unrestricted use of the girls locker room at Palatine High because she has graduated.

John Knight, director of the ACLU of Illinois' LGBTQ Rights Project, said in a news release that Maday will continue contesting District 211's "restrictive policies."

"Every school district in the state should see that segregation and isolation of students who are transgender is not permitted in our state under the Human Rights Act," Knight said.

Maday, who was born male but identifies as female, filed the suit in 2017 after officials denied her use of the girls locker room during physical education class, isolating her from other students because she is transgender.

Under District 211's rules, she was permitted to use the girls locker room as long as she always used a private changing stall within it. District 211 officials argue the Illinois Department of Human Rights found no evidence of discrimination in the district's policy.