Denver: The US Education Department said Thursday that Denver Public Schools violated Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination by creating all-gender bathrooms and allowing students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.

The finding followed a probe of Denver's East High School, marking a departure from investigations under former President Joe Biden.

The investigation began after the district converted a girl's restroom into an all-gender restroom while leaving another bathroom on the same floor exclusive to boys in January. The district said this followed a student-led process and the bathroom had 12-foot (3.6-metre) tall partitions for privacy and security.

The district later added a second all-gender restroom on the same floor to address fairness concerns. Students would continue to have access to gender-specific restrooms and single-stall, all-gender bathrooms.

The Education Department said it offered the district a chance to voluntarily make changes, including converting multi-stall, all-gender bathrooms back to gender-specific ones within 10 days, or face unspecified enforcement action. It also wants the district to use biology-based definitions for "male" and "female" in all Title IX policies and rescind guidance allowing students to use bathrooms based on gender identity.

"Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal funds and harm students in violation of Title IX," said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary of the department's Office for Civil Rights.

Denver Public Schools said it recently received the findings and is determining next steps.

The department's finding comes amid a push by the Trump administration against policies for transgender students, particularly athletes. Federal officials in June determined California's Department of Education violated civil rights law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' sports teams.

Officials under Trump also sued Maine over transgender athletes in girls' sports and launched an investigation into Oregon's Department of Education following a conservative group's complaint.

Trump signed an executive order in February blocking trans girls from sports consistent with their gender identity. Supporters said it restored fairness; opponents called it an attack on transgender youth.