More Teachers Join Trans Policy Lawsuit Against Loudoun Schools

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Two more Loudoun County teachers have joined Tanner Cross in a lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools. The teachers say the school system's new policy, which is designed to protect transgender students, violates their views and beliefs.

Policy 8040, which was approved by the Loudoun County School Board earlier this month, says students should be referred to by their preferred names and pronouns. It also says transgender and gender-expansive students should have access to activities and facilities that align with their gender identity.

Tanner Cross, a P.E. teacher at Leesburg Elementary School, voiced his opposition to the policy at a school board meeting in May. After he was suspended with pay, Cross filed a lawsuit in Loudoun County Circuit Court. A court order allowed Cross to return to work while the lawsuit proceeds.

He is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization "committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life," according to its website.

Read more: Transgender Policy On Pronouns, Bathrooms OKed By Loudoun Board

This week, the Alliance Defending Freedom said two more teachers, Monica Gill and Kim Wright, joined the lawsuit. Gill is a history teacher at Loudoun County High School and Wright is an English teacher at Smart's Mill Middle School.

Tyson Langhofer is an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom. "Teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false,” Langhofer said in a news release.

Policy 8040 was implemented to protect and support transgender students, supporters said.

"As a student who has always been able to use the girls' bathroom freely, I would feel no fear and no intimidation from transgender women using the same bathroom as me," said Jamie Kaine, a student representative of the Loudoun County School Board. "Because transgender women are women. These are not people coming in to look at us and creep on us."

Read more: Teacher Who Disputed Transgender Policy Reinstated By Court Order

Transgender and non-binary children are significantly more likely to consider and attempt suicide, according to the Trevor Project.

However, research has shown that allowing children to socially transition, by using preferred names and pronouns, improves their mental health outcomes. A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry showed that transgender children who are allowed to socially transition had similar levels of depression and self worth as their cisgender peers.

The Alliance Defending Freedom's complaint says that by calling students by their preferred pronouns, the teachers "would be forced to communicate a message they believe is false."

See also: Protests Against Trans Students, Equity Derail School Meeting

"ADF attorneys intend to ask the court to halt enforcement of that portion of the policy while the case moves forward," the legal organization said in a news release.