Administrators at a middle school in Illinois tried to force teenage girls to change their clothes in front of a boy who identified as female after the teens refused to share a locker room with a male, according to the mother of one of the girls.
Nicole Georgas told her 13-year-old daughter’s story during a Deerfield School District 109 School Board meeting last Thursday. The mother recalled that her teenager, who attends Shepard Middle School, came home on Feb. 5 “frightened” and “extremely upset” because there had been a boy in the girls’ bathroom.
Georgas said that she contacted the school, and received an email explaining that the boy is allowed to use the girls’ bathroom and change in their locker room because he identifies as female.
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The mother informed the school administrators that their actions appeared to violate President Donald Trump’s executive order, which prohibits males from participating in girls’ sports and using female spaces.
Georgas also filed a federal civil rights complaint on her daughter’s behalf and stated during the board meeting that the complaint has been referred to the U.S. Department of Education.
After taking these steps, the situation went “from bad to worse,” according to Georgas.
“A few days later, the male student was present in the girls locker room,” she said. “Feeling violated, the girls made the choice not to change into their PE clothes with the biological male student present.”
According to Georgas, the district’s assistant superintendent for student services, the school’s assistant principal, and the director for student services reprimanded the girls for refusing to use the locker room with the boy. The administrators reportedly escorted them to the locker room and attempted to force them to change in front of the male student.
“The girls just want their privacy and they want their locker room back,” Georgas said. “There are gender neutral options. This is my daughter’s story, and the story of many other young girls who have been forced at the difficult age to do something they know and most adults know is wrong.”
In response to the controversy, Superintendent of Schools Michael V. Simeck released a statement Monday, claiming that “District 109 is committed to providing a learning environment where all students and staff are respected and supported.”
“I want to clarify that no student is required to change in front of others in locker rooms. All students in both middle schools have multiple options to change in a private area if they wish,” Simeck wrote.
“District 109’s policies and procedures for its education programs and services align with state laws, the Illinois School Code, and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) guidance.”
The Deerfield School District 109 did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
Several trans activists and LGBT advocates also spoke at the Deerfield School District 109 board meeting last week, including Tina Nelson, who identified herself as a part of the “LGBTQ community.”
Nelson accused people who follow a “white God” of targeting the male student within the district who identifies as female. She also referred to those who oppose allowing a boy into the girls’ locker room as “petty women.”
“Children that are raised by those who hate, vilify and fearmonger will hate, vilify and fearmonger their peers,” Nelson said. “So, education is super important, sex education is super important.”
Charlee Friedman, the director of operations for the activist group Trans Up Front, also spoke during the school board meeting. Friedman announced at the meeting that she identifies as trans and that she has a child within the district who is also trans-identifying.
“The discomfort or privacy concerns of other students, teachers, or parents are not valid reasons to deny or limit the full and equal use of those facilities based on a student’s gender-related identity,” Friedman stated.
“Instead, any student, teacher or other individuals seeking more privacy should be accommodated by providing that individual with a more private option.”
Women like Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer, have opened up about the discomfort she and others experienced sharing a locker room with trans-identifying athlete Lia Thomas. Gaines was forced to compete against Thomas after the NCAA allowed him to participate in the women’s swimming championships in 2022.
Gaines and the other female athletes who shared a locker room with Thomas said that despite identifying as the opposite sex, the athlete still had male genitalia. According to Paula Scanlan, one of Thomas’ former teammates at the University of Pennsylvania, the school threatened the girls to keep them from complaining about the man on their team.
Scanlan noticed that after the male athlete joined the women’s swim team, many girls started changing in the bathroom stalls, something that she said never happened before Thomas joined.
“The biggest thing was just when you’re changing, and there’s all of these people talking in the background, and you hear all of these women’s voices and all of the sudden, you hear a man’s voice,” Scanlan recalled during a 2023 interview with The Daily Wire. “I’d always kind of jump a little.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
