Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) settled a court case Friday with two boys it punished for asking, “Why is there a girl in the boys’ locker room?”
The high school students sued LCPS in September after the Virginia school district tried to suspend them for commenting on a female student using the boys’ locker room.
LCPS found the boys’ comments constituted sexual harassment and discrimination under the district’s infamous Policy 8040, which allows students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their “gender identity,” rather than their sex.
“We are pleased that this nightmare is over and our clients are happy with the result,” Victoria Cobb, President of the Founding Freedoms Law Center, which represented the boys, told Loudoun Now.
“No child should find themselves in spaces intended for bodily privacy with children of the opposite sex.”
The boys’ conflict with the district began last May, when a young woman improperly filmed them in the boys’ locker room saying:
- “Is there a girl in here?”
- “There’s a girl.”
- “I’m so uncomfortable there’s a girl.”
- “That’s a female, bro, get out of here.”
Rather than punishing the transgender-identified student for filming in a locker room, which violates district policy, LCPS found the boys guilty of sexual harassment and discrimination.
The district tried to suspend both boys for 10 days, with additional punishment to follow. The investigation’s conclusions also went on the boys’ academic record — just in time to apply for colleges.
Attorneys from Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal sued to overturn LCPS’ judgement in September, arguing the district violated the boys’ right to privacy, free speech, and religious freedom by:
- Failing to segregate bathrooms and locker rooms by sex, as required by federal law.
- Failing to accommodate religious objections to changing in front of a member of the opposite sex.
- Failing to punish the female student who initiated the complaint for violating district policy by filming in a locker room.
LCPS fought the suit for months before settling, which could indicate the district doubted it could win at trial.
Though the specific terms are private, America First Legal attorney Ian Prior indicated the settlement favored the boys.
“The families are pleased that we were able to successfully mediate this case and are very happy with the result,” he told Loudoun Now.
LCPS refused several outlets’ requests for comment.
Though the boys’ case has concluded, the district’s legal woes aren’t finished. In August, the Department of Education (DOE) started curtailing LCPS and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ federal funding for failing to provide students single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told WJLA’s Nick Minock she and the Department of Justice expect the districts to begin following Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in public schools, immediately.
Failure to comply will result in complete severance of the five districts’ federal funding, totally $50 million every year.
Daily Citizen is a news division of Focus on the Family that provides a faith-based perspective to counter the mainstream media’s anti-Christian bias.
