Deerfield community pushes back as anti-trans groups target local middle school

Residents of north suburban Deerfield rallied in support of a transgender student at Shepard Middle School who has been targeted by a conservative campaign against trans protections in Illinois.

The school is currently the center of a new Title IX investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over a parent’s complaint about the transgender student using locker rooms that align with her gender identity.

Parents, graduates and neighbors of Shepard Middle School came out in droves to Deerfield District 109’s school board meeting on April 10 to voice their support for the student. They also thanked the district for accommodating trans students with access to facilities that align with their gender identity.

Lilu Weisberger, a transgender boy at Shepard who is friends with the girl being targeted, called for “empathy” amid a controversy that has thrust the north suburban middle school into a national spotlight.

“We are fighting for our right to exist and to exist alongside our peers,” Weisberger said.

In a statement, District 109 Supt. Michael Simeck asserted that the district was committed to upholding all local, state and federal laws, which protect trans peoples’ access to facilities that align with their gender identity.

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance states public and private facilities must be available for people to use the facility that aligns with their gender identity.

“As we have stated from the beginning, the district administration and the board stand united with our building leaders and educators in a shared commitment to upholding all applicable local, state and federal laws,” Simeck said.

Deerfield school caught in a ‘coordinated political campaign’

While the backlash surrounding Shepard Middle School has gained national attention, residents of the area said much of the controversy has been manufactured.

The conflict started in March, when parent Nicole Georgas brought the issue to the school board’s March 13 meeting, claiming her 13-year-old daughter’s “well-being and mental health and privacy is at stake” because of the transgender student’s presence in the locker room.

Since then, the U.S. Department of Education has also announced an investigation into the district—and Chicago Public Schools—for alleged Title IX violations.

Conservative nonprofit America First Legal has also filed its own complaint with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division over the incident, claiming that students were “forced” to share facilities with the transgender girl.

In a statement, District 109 Supt. Michael Simeck pushed back on claims that students were “forced” to change in front of anyone at the school.

 The superintendent said, “No student is required to change into a gym uniform for physical education class in front of others,” and noted that the school has already made efforts to increase its number of private changing facilities.

When Shepard Middle School was renovated in 2017, the district added five private changing stations to each locker room, Simeck said. Students can also change in private areas of the locker room.

“We are sensitive to the privacy needs of all our middle school students,” Simeck said.

More than 40 people spoke in support of the transgender student at the latest school board meeting, compared to about a dozen who opposed the trans-inclusive policies. Transgender advocates similarly outnumbered their detractors during the March 13 meeting where Georgas first raised the complaint.

Most of the district’s critics were from outside the Deerfield community and said they were affiliated with groups like Moms for Liberty, Concerned Women for America and Gays Against Groomers—all recognized as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

David Weisberger, the parent of the transgender boy who spoke earlier at the meeting, accused these groups of using the situation in Deerfield to launch a “coordinated political campaign” to weaken public schools and roll back civil rights.

“They chased down national coverage and then claimed that there’s a national spotlight on Deerfield,” Weisberger said.

‘Hate does not have a place here’

Dozens of Deerfield residents spoke at the school board meeting to share support for the district’s transgender students. Many of them carried handheld transgender pride flags and waved signs decorated with messages of support.

Kristal Larson, executive director of the LGBTQ+ Center Lake County and clerk for the Avon Township, called it a “massive outpouring of support from the Deerfield community.”

“There were so many families out there, and so many families who are brave enough to step up and speak,” Larson said. “It was overwhelmingly powerful.”

That showing of support represents the work that Deerfield and the larger Lake County community has put in to foster an inclusive community, Larson said. Some recent efforts have included a Transgender Day of Visibility celebration that involved staging pro-trans demonstrations at eight sites across Lake County. 

Larson joined the demonstration in Deerfield, while others were held in cities like Waukegan, Grayslake, Gurnee, Mundelein and Buffalo Grove. The Deerfield demonstration included about 50 participants who rallied at “the People’s Corner,” an area at the intersection of Deerfield and Waukegan roads that’s often used for protests. Larson passed out trans flags—some of which she saw again at the recent school board meeting.

“Deerfield felt like it was the most important place for me to be that day, based on what’s been happening in their community,” Larson said.

The show of solidarity at both the demonstration and the school board meeting is a testament to the progress Deerfield has made, Larson said.

“It shows that hate does not have a place here,” Larson said. “We have worked very hard to be an inclusive community.”