The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday said Denver Public Schools violated Title IX by creating all-gender bathrooms and letting students use the facilities that align with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Federal officials announced their finding after the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigated the school district’s policies at East High School, which converted a girls’ restroom into an all-gender bathroom in violation of Title IX, according to the department.

OCR in January opened a Title IX investigation into the district’s policies regarding bathroom use at East High School after the district designated a previously single-sex restroom as all-gender. Officials said that change ran contrary to Title IX and the Obama administration’s regulations.

Sex-Specific Bathrooms Converted

The district first converted a girls’ bathroom into an all-gender restroom but maintained another restroom for boys on the same floor. The move came, district officials have said, after a student-led process, and they have highlighted that the bathrooms in question have 12-foot partitions around toilets and urinals to “maintain the privacy and security of all students.”

But the federal government said the change at East High School would deny students equal access to facilities and contribute to a “hostile environment,” in violation of Title IX. A second all-gender bathroom was later added on the same floor to address fairness issues, and district officials have said that students have access to both the traditional male and female bathrooms, as well as other single-stall, all-gender restrooms throughout the school.

DOE to Issue Resolution Letter

The Department of Education on Thursday sent Denver Public Schools a proposed resolution letter with four conditions it must meet within 10 days to avoid enforcement action.

The conditions in the proposal, if not met, could subject the district to enforcement measures such as loss of federal funding. The proposal would require the district to:

Change the designation of all all-gender multi-stall restrooms back to a single-sex restroom.

Eliminate any policies that allow a student to use a restroom other than the one that aligns with their biological sex.

Adopt “biology-based definitions” for “male” and “female” in all policies and activities where sex is a factor under Title IX.

Send a memorandum to the district schools affirming that the district’s intimate facilities are sex-segregated and that they must “provide the same level of privacy, dignity, and safety for all students” while also remaining “comparably accessible to both sexes.”

Education Department Cites Privacy, Safety

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, who is leading the office’s investigation into Denver’s bathroom policies, in a statement said the change “endanger student safety, privacy, and dignity.”

“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,” he added. “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.”

District Says Policies Created by Students

District officials have defended their decision by noting that the process to create the new bathrooms involved input from students. They have said the district worked with students to provide facilities that would address the need for “privacy and security.”

Denver Public Schools has not yet commented on the department’s latest action. But it previously said students continue to have several bathroom options, including single-stall restrooms available to any student who may need extra privacy.

National Issue Emerges in Denver Case

The battle in Denver comes as part of a larger national debate on how to handle bathroom use and gender identity policies at schools. This year, President Donald Trump also signed an executive order barring transgender girls from competing on sports teams that do not match their biological sex.

In Congress, Republican lawmakers have tried to pass a bill that would stop transgender students from using the bathrooms or participating on sports teams that are aligned with their gender identity.

The Education Department also has been involved in multiple cases on similar issues in schools and universities. This week, for example, the department said George Mason University had unlawful DEI practices that discriminated against white people and men in violation of Title VI.