Loudoun Transgender Locker Room Case Draws Claim Of Title IX Violations

ASHBURN, VA — The Trump administration's U.S. Department of Education has claimed a Title IX violation against male students in a locker room encounter with a transgender student at Loudoun County Public Schools.

Federal officials said the school district retaliated against the male students and called for ending the suspensions, among other actions.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights' investigation found discrimination on the basis of sex against the male students at Stone Bridge High School. In addition, the office said the school district did not respond as Title IX requires to sexual harassment claims in the boys' locker room.

According to the federal agency, the Loudoun school district did not meaningfully investigate the boys' sexual harassment complaint about a transgender student in the boys' locker room the same way as the transgender student's sexual harassment complaint against the boys.

The federal government released its investigation findings one day after conservative legal groups America First Legal and Founding Freedoms Law Center filed a federal lawsuit in the case. According to Fox5DC, a judge approved a temporary restraining order for one of the suspended male students.

The other suspended student has moved away from Loudoun County.

"We urge Loudoun County to abandon its reliance upon post-modern ideology and instead embrace the requirements of law by coming into compliance with Title IX," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement. "The Trump Administration’s dedication to equal protection under the law is unwavering, and we will not permit rogue localities to defy that principle."

As reported by Fox5DC, the school district has said it wouldn't suspend a student because of reporting "some kind of discomfort" and "that there is a high bar to launch a Title IX investigation and an even higher bar to determine a student is in violation of Title IX."

Advocates for LGBTQ+ students have said the boys were harassing the transgender student, who they believe was the victim. A statement from Loudoun4All noted that the transgender student has also faced a suspension for the locker room recording violation.

The U.S. Department of Education said Loudoun County Public Schools has 10 days to enter a resolution agreement. Actions sought at the school include ending the suspensions of two male students, reviewing findings to determine if disciplining the male students is justified, notify the students and their parents that the school system will investigate the Title IX complaints, and provide training to staff receiving or responding to Title IX sexual harassment complaints.

Loudoun County Public Schools and four other Northern Virginia school divisions faced pressure from the Trump administration to revoke their transgender bathroom policies with an Aug. 15 deadline. The federal government threatened to withhold federal money for Title I schools, special education and nutrition programs if the school districts did not revoke their policies.

All five districts held firm with their policies, and the Arlington and Fairfax County school districts filed a lawsuit that a federal judge later dismissed.

In maintaining the bathroom policies, several of the school districts cited the federal ruling in the Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board case. That case involved a transgender student fighting a Virginia school district on allowing him to use the boy's bathroom that matches his gender identity. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of Gavin Grimm, who claimed the school district's action violated Title IX's Equal Protection Clause.