Trump’s Department of Education to Investigate Denver School District for Replacing Girls’ Restroom with ‘All-Gender’ Facility

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating the Denver Public Schools District in Colorado for replacing a high school girls’ restroom with an “all-gender restroom,” the agency announced last week. 

Trump’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor sent a letter on Jan. 28 to Dr. Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, notifying him about the impending investigation. The letter cites local reporting, which found that the district had converted a girls’ restroom in East High School to a multi-stall “all-gender” restroom, leaving the second floor with a restroom exclusively for male students and no restroom exclusively for female students.

The letter also cites the comment from an East High School parents who told the district school board during a January work session:

The] Administration has sacrificed the comfort of these young females for this dubious change by now limiting their options . . . . We, as adults, should be protecting students at all costs. Not using minors for this social experiment. This in my opinion is unlawful, immoral and is, in fact, a form of abuse.

Trainor wrote that Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 “prohibit[s] discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity operated by a recipient of federal financial assistance from the Department.”

“As a recipient of federal financial assistance from the Department of Education, the District is subject to Title IX,” he wrote. “OCR’s directed investigation will examine whether the District discriminates against students on the basis of sex by installing multi-stall all-gender restrooms in District school facilities, in violation of Title IX and its implementing regulations.”

The letter further notes that the school district installed multi-stall all-gender restrooms in two other schools, the Denver School of the Arts and CEC Early College.

In a statement, Trainor called reports of female students not having their own bathroom on the second floor “alarming.”

“The alarming report that the Denver Public Schools District denied female students a restroom comparable with their male counterparts appears to directly violate the civil rights of the District’s female students,” he said. “Let me be clear: it is a new day in America, and under President Trump, OCR will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. I have directed OCR’s Denver regional office to investigate this matter fully.” 

According to the local news report, the school district said the “all-gender” restroom proposal was student-driven, and is “something that helps provide convenience for everybody.”

“It was becoming a problem for kids that were trying to go to the bathroom during passing period,” said Scott Pribble, Denver Public Schools director of external communication. “They were running out of time, being late to the next class because the one or two single stall bathrooms that they had to accommodate this just wasn’t enough for the need that was out there.” 

Pribble told the outlet at the time that the girls’ restroom was “easier to convert” to a “gender-neutral restroom” because of the type of hardware that is already in the facility. 

“The girl’s restroom has toilets that can be accessed by everybody whereas a boys has different type of toilets that may be specific to specific genders and kind of changes the gender-neutral piece of it,” he said. 

“There’s some people who are uncomfortable and that’s understandable,” he added. 

Breitbart News reached out to Pribble but did not receive a response by time of publication. However, a spokesperson for the district told Fox News Digital that they are aware of the investigation and created the “all-gender” restroom as a result of “a student-led process that reflects our commitment to inclusivity and student voice, leadership, and empowerment, providing a welcoming space for all.” The statement read:

This restroom serves all students, including those who may feel uncomfortable in gender-specific facilities and aligns with our values of supporting every student. The faculty of East High School has developed a plan to supervise and monitor this lavatory, just as they do with all others. Currently, East High School has designated restrooms for male and female students in addition to the all-gender lavatory.

“It is unprecedented for the Office for Civil Rights to admittedly initiate its own investigation, into a single bathroom, as a result of local media coverage rather than in response to a filed complaint requesting their involvement,” the statement continued. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.