LCPS 'targeting' male students who oppose sharing locker room with girl, advocates say
A father accused Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia of targeting his son after the district launched a Title IX investigation against the boy and two other teens caught on camera expressing discomfort about sharing a locker room with a girl who identifies as male.
The Founding Freedoms Law Center, the legal arm of The Family Foundation, a socially conservative organization, represents two high school sophomores and their parents.
LCPS opened the Title IX investigation against the two teens and one other boy for "sexual harassment," according to the legal arm's Tuesday statement.
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"My 15-year-old son is being unfairly targeted for simply asking a basic question that any boy would be asking in that situation," Seth Wolfe, the father of one of the teenagers, said in a statement.
"It's astonishing that Loudoun school officials are subjecting him to a formal investigation for a bogus charge that could derail his life," Wolfe added.
The Washington D.C.-area school district has a policy that allows trans-identifying students to use the restroom or locker room intended for the opposite sex. The policy also states that school staff members are to use a trans-identifying student's chosen name and pronouns "regardless of the name and gender recorded in the student's permanent educational record."
As WJLA reported this week, a female student at Stone Bridge High School who identifies as male was allowed to change in the boys' locker room. After gym class one day in March, the student used her phone to record several boys who wondered why a girl was in their locker room.
According to the Founding Freedoms Law Center, one of the clients, whose name has not been revealed, reportedly asked: "Why is there a girl in the locker room?" Another boy told the P.E. teacher and the high school principal that he was uncomfortable changing in the locker room with a girl.
The legal center is asking the school district to end its investigation against the boys.
"This is yet another egregious example of how LCPS continues to defy state law on transgender policies as well as President Trump's recent executive orders," Josh Hetzler, legal counsel for the law center and the Wolfe family's attorney, said in statement.
"This high school boy did absolutely nothing wrong, and LCPS needs to end this baseless investigation immediately," the attorney declared.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares also commented on the situation, according to WJLA, stating that policies like the ones at LCPS are putting young boys and girls in an "untenable position."
"I think this is an example, yet again, a school district that tries to be so open-minded their brain falls out," Miyares declared. "The fact that it's 2025 and there are people that are advocating and pushing for members of the opposite sex to be in a teenager's locker room, and they think somehow that's being open-minded and tolerant?"
A spokesperson for LCPS told CP that WJLA's report contains "false and misleading information presented in a biased manner from a single source." The public information officer for the school district also accused Miyares of relying on a sole media report to publicly criticize LCPS.
"We reject any characterization that implies our schools are unsafe or that we fail to protect the rights of all students," the LCPS spokesperson told CP. "We remain steadfast in our legal and ethical obligation to uphold the rights of every student and will continue to create and nurture an environment that is welcoming and accepting for all students, so that everyone has the opportunity to learn, grow and succeed."
The spokesperson also claimed that LCPS would not investigate or discipline students based on their personal opinions unless their behavior violates LCPS' Student Rights & Responsibilities Handbook for Families and Student Code of Conduct.
As the situation at Stone Bridge High School could result in disciplinary action, the spokesperson declined to discuss the specifics of the matter publicly, citing concerns about the students' privacy.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed it was investigating LCPS following a complaint from American First Legal that accused Loudoun and several other school systems of violating Title IX by allowing trans-identifying students to use locker rooms and bathrooms based on gender identity.
The investigation is not the first time LCPS policies have garnered national media attention.
In May 2021, a male student at Stone Bridge High School wore a skirt and entered the girls' bathroom, where he then proceeded to sexually assault a female student. The student was transferred to another high school in the district, Broad Run High School, where he assaulted another female student a few months later.
During a June 2021 school board meeting, parents and community members objected to Policy 8040, which permitted trans-identifying students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choosing. The Loudoun County School Board ultimately approved Policy 8040 in August 2021, two months before the sexual assault at Broad Run High School took place.
Then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler denied during the June 2021 meeting that a sexual assault had ever taken place in bathrooms within the school district. A special grand jury report released in 2022 said that this statement from Ziegler was a "bald-faced lie."
"The superintendent later claimed he 'was viewing the question in light of ... policy 8040,'" the report reads. "Per the aforementioned Teams meeting, we know the superintendent learned shortly after the incident that the Stone Bridge assault was stated to be related to policy 8040."
The district fired Ziegler following the release of the special grand jury report, which had accused LCPS administrators of "looking out for their own interests" and lying to parents to quell controversy over the trans bathroom policy.
In May 2021, the school district placed a Christian teacher on leave after he spoke out against the proposed Policy 8040 before it was enacted and said he wouldn't affirm transgender identities of students. The school district later reversed the suspension and paid $20,000 as part of a legal settlement.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
