The U.S. Department of Education (ED) on Thursday accused Denver Public Schools (DPS) of violating Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools. The investigation found the district had created all-gender bathrooms and allowed students to use whatever bathroom they wanted based on their gender identity as opposed to their biological sex.

ED initiated the investigation last January, based on a referral from its Office for Civil Rights. The department began looking at the policies as they pertained to East High School after the district converted a girls’ restroom to an all-gender bathroom, a move officials said was against federal standards under Title IX.

The district originally redesigned a girls’ restroom into an all-gender restroom on the second floor of East High. A restroom designated for boys remained on the same floor.

The move, district leaders said, was the result of a student-led process. Additionally, the district underscored that the newly designed all-gender restrooms had 12-foot-tall partitions around toilets, which would “maximize student privacy and safety.”

Federal officials, on the other hand, said the move ran afoul of Title IX. In a statement, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor called the decision a violation of Title IX as it “denied students equal access to restrooms and created a hostile environment for all students at East High School.”

To remedy the fairness concerns, DPS also installed a second all-gender bathroom on the same floor. The district also said the all-gender change did not preclude students from using traditional male or female bathrooms, or single-stall, all-gender restrooms elsewhere in the school.

In a letter, ED proposed a resolution to Denver Public Schools with four conditions that the district would need to meet within 10 days. These conditions are meant to help the district comply with Title IX and avoid enforcement action.

The proposal:

• Calls for the district to redesignate all all-gender multi-stall restrooms to sex-specific facilities.
• Eliminates policies or practices that allow students to access intimate facilities based on gender identity as opposed to biological sex.
• Endorses “biology-based definitions” of “male” and “female” in all policies and practices covered by Title IX.
• Issues a memorandum of the school to state that its bathrooms must “protect the privacy, dignity, and safety of all students” while being comparably accessible to both sexes.

The department will consider “enforcement measures” if the district does not agree to the proposed resolution.

Student Safety, Privacy at the Forefront

Trainor said the district’s decision to allow students to use the bathroom based on gender identity “violated Title IX and its implementing regulations.”

“Denver Public Schools violated Title IX and its implementing regulations by converting a sex-segregated restroom designated for girls in East High School to an “all-gender” facility and by allowing students to use the high school’s intimate facilities on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex,” Trainor said.

“Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” Trainor continued. “The Trump Administration will work relentlessly to hold accountable school districts that harbor the ideological fanatics and policies that sully students’ educational experience with sex discrimination.”

DPS Vindicates Its Decision

The district has stood by its decision to allow students to choose bathrooms based on gender identity. The district underscored that the students led the initiative to come up with the all-gender bathroom.

DPS has not responded publicly to the department’s latest decision but had previously said students have a variety of options and that single-stall, all-gender restrooms were available to anyone seeking extra privacy.

Denver is not the first school to run into trouble over its bathroom policies. Last month, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports. The order was specifically targeted at transgender students using hormone therapy or those who have had sex-reassignment surgery.

Earlier this year, the House passed legislation that would also bar transgender girls and women from using bathrooms or competing on teams that are not biologically female.

The Education Department also has multiple active cases that concern gender-related policies at K-12 schools and universities. Just this week, officials found George Mason University in violation of federal law for discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs under Title VI.

The Way Forward

Denver Public Schools must now decide whether to accede to the proposed resolution. Failure to do so could result in enforcement action that could endanger federal funding to the district, including millions of dollars in federal aid.

Districts have 10 days to provide a response to the department’s findings. The district can either agree to reverse its all-gender bathroom policies, or not.