Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) is suspending two high-school boys after a “transgender” student secretly videorecorded them in the boys’ locker room questioning why she was there.
WJLA reported Monday:
LCPS’s Title IX Office launched an investigation based on that video and the male-identifying student’s complaint. That office has now determined the two boys are responsible for sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination, according to attorney, Josh Hetzler, who represents the families.
Hetzler said they were notified by LCPS Friday evening.
The punishment includes ten days of suspension and a no-contact order with the complainant, including not being able to be in any of the same classes. The boys are also required to meet with school administrators to determine a corrective action plan, according to Hetzler.
Title Deeds
The transgender student first began using the boys’ locker room during physical-education classes at Stone Bridge High School around September 2023. She was able to get away with this thanks to LCPS’ Policy 8040, which requires students to “be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their consistently asserted gender identity.”
The girl filed her first Title IX complaint against one of the two boys in October 2024 on the basis that he had told a friend he was uncomfortable having a girl in the locker room. LCPS took the accusation seriously enough to question the boy about it, although no further action was taken.
The other now-suspended boy discussed the locker-room situation with his P.E. teacher. The teacher allegedly told him that he was stuck with it because of district policy — and that he should keep quiet about it.
In March, the girl surreptitiously took video in the boys’ locker room and used it as evidence for another Title IX complaint, this time against three boys. As The New American reported, the girl “accused the boys — two Christians and a Muslim — of making disparaging comments about her, threatening her with violence, and ‘misgendering’ her.”
Her punishment for violating school policy by taking the video? In-school suspension.
The boys’ punishment for saying things that, not long ago, would have been considered uncontroversial even in Loudoun County? A Title IX investigation culminating in 10 days’ at-home suspension and other humiliations.
Perturbed Parents
In June, after investigating the matter, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said his office had uncovered “a disturbing misuse of authority by” LCPS in opening a Title IX investigation into the boys. According to his report:
The single available video recording captures only a statement about needing a separate locker room due to the presence of a biological female. Most notably, the video does not record any disparaging remarks, profanity, or any threat against [the female student]. My Office is unaware of any corroborating witnesses who would substantiate [the female student’s] claims.
Nevertheless, LCPS proceeded with its investigation and ultimately disciplined two of the three accused students. (The third was acquitted.)
Those students’ parents, naturally, are livid over this turn of events.
“I would say the first reaction was some anger, because we’re just really concerned with all this stuff,” Seth Wolfe, father of one of the boys, told WJLA. “[We’re] saddened by the decision-making process and how that went.”
“[We’re] absolutely floored that they came back and branded my son responsible for sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination with no solid evidence whatsoever,” Renae Smith, another parent, told WJLA. “It’s wrong, and it should terrify every single parent.”
Smith moved her family to North Dakota, so her son will not actually be punished by LCPS, but the findings of the investigation will go on his permanent academic record.
That is also a concern for Wolfe. Both boys will be juniors this year and applying to colleges, which are unlikely to desire students with Title IX convictions on their records.
The parents also believe LCPS is using their boys to send a message to other students about disagreeing with the district’s gender policies. “I think this has gone a little too far and that they are trying to make an example of our students,” Wolfe told WTTG.
Forfeiting Federal Funding
LCPS isn’t commenting on the situation. But the Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC), which is representing the families, had plenty to say.
“The Founding Freedoms Law Center is working with our clients on next steps, but we are not going to let these boys go down without a fight, we’re going to stand with them all the way till they are innocent,” FFLC President Victoria Cobb told WJLA.
“LCPS, once again, shows that it is willing to harm students in the name of woke ideology,” she said. “These boys in particular are being made examples of what happens when someone crosses school indoctrination.”
Miyares referred the Title IX matter to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Neither agency has acted on the referral yet.
However, reported WJLA, the Education Department has told LCPS and four other northern-Virginia school districts that they will lose federal funding if they do not change their pro-transgender bathroom and locker-room policies, which the department contends violate Title IX. As of Friday, all five districts remained intransigent, and the Education Department told WJLA it had started the process of slashing their funding.
The schools, the department said, “will have to defend their embrace of radical gender ideology over ensuring the safety of their students.”
