Fairfax County Public Schools and other Northern Virginia school districts are being pressured by the U.S. Department of Education to reverse their policies that support transgender children.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights announced today (Friday), that it found that FCPS, its counterparts in Arlington and Alexandria, Prince William, and Loudoun were in violation of Title IX of Education Amendments of 1973. They argued that allowing students to use bathrooms and facilities that corresponded with their gender identities constituted discrimination based on sex.
In a recent press release, Education Department Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor stated that “despite the fact that this behavior was tolerated under the previous administration, it is time to put an end to Northern Virginia’s experiment in radical gender ideology and illegal discrimination.” The OCR’s investigation shows conclusively that these Virginia school districts have violated the rights of their students to serve an extreme political ideologie.
Since February, the department has been investigating school districts in response to an complaint by the conservative nonprofit America First Legal. America First Legal was founded 2021 by Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller is a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, and the current deputy chief of staff at the White House for policy.
The complaint focused specifically on FCPS policies that allow students to use restrooms or locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. This measure has been in place , since October 2020 .
The policy says that to create a welcoming environment for transgender students and students who are gender-expansive, students should also be addressed using their preferred names and pronouns. They can also participate in sports and other activities at school based on gender identity.
OCR says that FCPS policies have been the subject of “several lawsuits” by students who claim that they have avoided using their school restrooms. They also say that male students have “inappropriately touched” female students and watched them change in female locker room.
FCPS is facing an lawsuit that was filed by American First Legal last year on behalf of Jane Doe. Jane Doe claimed to have experienced discrimination at her high-school due to her refusal to call other students by their pronouns or names, and to share facilities with transgender women.
On Sept. 29, the case will be tried without a jury in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
The Education Department has offered the school systems a settlement to resolve the investigation. This would require that they rescind any policies or regulations that allowed students to use “intimate” facilities based solely on their gender identity. They would also be required to separate student bathroom and locker rooms based upon sex in future policies.
Virginia Governor welcomed the announcement. Glenn Youngkin, Attorney General Jason Miyares and other Republicans have described the Education Department move as “commonsense”, after the Biden Administration expanded the interpretation to Title IX in order to include LGBTQ students.
A federal judge in Kentucky ruled in early January that the rule of the Biden administration, which was implemented in 2021, but did not take effect before August 2024 was invalidated nationwide.
Youngkin stated in a release that “they got away with their behavior because the Biden Administration supported them.” “Common sense is back. Boys and girls should be in separate locker rooms and bathrooms and not allowed to play girls’ sports.
OCR cites the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of June 18, which upheld a ban against gender-affirming services for minors in Tennessee. It suggests that “biological sex” is different from gender identity, and that only this latter is protected under Title IX. This law prohibits discrimination based upon sex at educational institutions receiving federal funding.
A spokesperson for FCPS said that the school division was reviewing the letter it received from OCR today regarding the investigation.
FCPS issued a statement saying, “We will review the document in depth and respond once we have finished our review.” “FCPS is committed to creating a welcoming, safe and supportive school environment that includes all students and teachers.”
The Trump administration is laying off hundreds of Education Department staff, and closing half of the civil rights offices, while it continues to investigate public schools, universities. OCR has reportedly rejected thousands complaints while prioritizing cases related to antisemitism and gender identity.
