The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is investigating 36 Illinois school districts to determine whether “sexual orientation and gender ideology” content is present in any Pre-K-12 classrooms, the agency said in a news release Thursday.
In the Chicagoland area, over 15 districts are listed as under investigation in Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
The school districts include:
In Cook County:
Atwood Heights School District 125, Country Club Hills School District 160, Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401, Leyden Community High School District 212, Lyons School District 103, Noble Network of Charter Schools, North Palos School District 117, Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123, Reavis Township High School District 220, and Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215
In DuPage County:
Center Cass School District 66
In Lake County:
North Chicago Community Unit School District 187
In McHenry County:
Community High School District 155
In Will County:
Crete-Monee School District 201-U, Will County School District 92
If the school districts are found to have included this type of content in classroom instruction, then the Department of Justice said it would look into whether schools have informed parents of their “right to opt their children out of such instruction.” The department said it would also examine whether girls’ sports teams and access to locker rooms, bathrooms and other “single-sex intimate spaces” are restricted by biological sex.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon accused Illinois public schools of “keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms” in a statement accompanying the announcement.
“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children,” Dhillon said in the statement. “This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The news release referenced two recent cases centering on parents’ rights to gender and sexuality-related information and decision-making in public schools: Mahmoud v. Taylor and Mirabelli v. Bonta, which dealt with questions on whether parents in these cases could opt their children out of LGBTQ+-related curricula or receive information on their child’s gender identity at school.
Leadership from affected school districts did not immediately respond to the Tribune’s requests for comment.
The Justice Department’s news release did not clarify why these school districts are under scrutiny or whether any particular reason or incident prompted this investigation. It also did not include a definition or example of what counts as “sexual orientation and gender ideology” content. The department did not immediately respond to the Tribune’s request for comment.
The investigation comes during a broader crackdown under the Trump administration on gender and sexuality-related content in schools.
In February, the Department of Justice announced the investigation of three Michigan school districts over classroom use of “sexual orientation and gender ideology” content in a nearly identical news release.
In a statement to the Tribune, Gov. JB Pritzker suggested that the Illinois investigations are a political tactic by President Donald Trump.
“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,” Pritzker said in an email. “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.”
Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, called the investigations “confounding and profoundly misguided.”
“Parents and students do not need the Trump Administration to assess curricula for their classrooms,” Yohnka said in a statement to the Tribune. “The decision about what is appropriate for children is a local, individualized decision. We do not need Illinois schools run by Washington bureaucrats bent on enforcing their ideology.”
The Department of Justice said it has not yet reached any conclusions regarding the “subject matter” of the investigation.
