(Daily Caller News Foundation) — The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is demanding that the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigate a school district that allegedly failed to address parental complaints after an adult man, identifying as a woman, exposed his genitalia to four freshman girls in a high school locker room, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Following a high school swim unit in a March physical education class, four freshman girls were showering in the locker room when an 18-year-old male student allegedly entered the changing area, announced he was “trans, by the way,” and then fully undressed in front of the students, according to WILL. WILL filed a civil rights complaint to the OCR Wednesday, alleging that despite being notified of the “sexual harassment,” Sun Prairie Area School District failed to address student and parental concerns regarding the incident.
“We believe that the responses from the school district so far have been entirely inadequate,” Dan Lennington, a WILL attorney, told the DCNF. “They have not been transparent. They have violated federal law numerous times without apology, and still maintain to this day that transgender students can use whatever locker room they want to use. We believe that violates federal law, we believe that has led to sexual harassment of students, which it did in the shower when four freshman girls were confronted by a naked adult male. That’s just gonna keep continuing until we have clarity from the Biden administration. All this stems from the Biden administration, and their inability to define what is a woman and what is a man and what is sex discrimination under federal law.”
Ahead of the incident, the freshman girls knew that the 18-year-old male was identifying as a woman, the complaint stated. The male student was in the locker room when the girls returned from class, despite not participating in the swimming lesson.
The male student entered the showering area near the girls and announced “I’m trans, by the way,” then undressed and showered next to them, the complaint alleged. The 18-year-old student originally turned to face the wall in order to undress but then allegedly turned and exposed his genitalia to the girls.
The district allegedly notified a parent of one of the girls a month after the incident that students can use locker rooms on the basis of gender identity as long as they respect the privacy of others under district policy, the complaint stated. The principal of the high school then allegedly emailed a parent claiming the incident “should not have happened.”
WILL sent a letter to the school district in April, calling for administration to address the incident immediately and clarify what its locker room policy is. The district’s Title IX coordinator claims to have interviewed one of the girls in relation to the incident, though WILL’s client alleges that the interview did not take place.
Following WILL’s April letter, Sun Prairie Area School District launched a webpage to address the incident.
“Recently, an event that happened at SP East High School in March has brought to our attention that more communication has been necessary to meet the needs of our community,” the webpage states. “The Board of Education has also asked the administrative team to develop an improved strategy to communicate about the event, and to help our community better understand how we support our LGBTQIA+ students, staff and families, not only through our partnerships but also through our formal district documents, such as guidelines.”
Sun Prairie Area School District did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
