Department of Education says pro-trans policies in 5 Northern Virginia school districts violate Title IX.
The U.S. Department of Education has warned the school districts of Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William that they could lose federal funding or face legal action if they do not roll back policies allowing transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.
The investigations, launched in February after a complaint from America First Legal — a group founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller — alleges the policies give transgender students more rights than cisgender students under Title IX.
The Education Department has recently stepped up challenges to pro-transgender school policies nationwide, even declaring June, traditionally recognized as Pride Month, as “Title IX Month” and pledging to roll back policies affirming transgender students.
On July 25, the department’s Office for Civil Rights said the policies — some dating to the Obama era and others adopted under Biden — violate Title IX and “have been trampling on the rights of students in the service of an extreme political ideology.”
The Education Department said the districts have 10 days to “voluntarily agree” to a resolution or face losing federal funds and possible referral to the Justice Department, citing a Trump-era order that recognizes only two sexes.
The resolution would force the districts to rescind pro-transgender policies, issue a memo requiring future rules to enforce sex-segregated facilities based on birth sex, and adopt “biology-based” definitions of “male” and “female” when enforcing Title IX.
The five districts, which educate about a third of Virginia’s public school students, are in liberal-leaning areas that resisted Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “parental rights” agenda. His administration introduced “model policies” requiring schools to inform parents if a student comes out as transgender and to change a student’s records only with written parental consent. Even with parental approval, teachers could refuse to use a student’s preferred pronouns based on personal beliefs.
The policies also required students to use facilities matching their sex at birth, but allowed transgender students to use single-stall or unisex bathrooms.
The model policies sparked protests from parents and students, thousands of whom staged walkouts across Virginia. The five districts ultimately rejected the policies, citing a federal appeals court ruling in former Virginian Gavin Grimm’s case that found transgender bathroom bans violate Title IX.
It is unclear whether repealing the policies would hold up in court, as Virginia school districts remain bound by the 4th Circuit’s ruling in the Grimm case. Complying with the Education Department’s resolution could invite new lawsuits from transgender or LGBTQ advocacy groups.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of transgender “bathroom bans.”
Officials in the five districts told the Washington Post that they are reviewing the Education Department’s findings while trying to reassure families that transgender students will not face discrimination or lose accommodations.
Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia’s largest district, said in a statement that it “remains committed to fostering a safe, supportive, welcoming, and inclusive environment for all students and staff.”
Loudoun County Public Schools said staff “will continue to ensure full compliance with state and federal laws” while maintaining an environment “where every student can thrive and reach their fullest potential.”
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U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace once cast herself as an LGBTQ-friendly Republican. She has since become one of Congress’s loudest opponents of transgender rights -- and is now echoing a familiar refrain used by opponents of same-sex marriage on social media.
"Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," wrote Mace on X, repeating a long-used slogan that mocks same-sex relationships as “abnormal” and frames homosexuality as contrary to the Bible. The South Carolina congresswoman is currently running for governor.
A community note soon appeared under Mace’s post, pointing out that she voted twice for the Respect for Marriage Act -- once during its initial passage, and again when the House approved the Senate’s version. The 2022 law requires both federal and state governments to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they’re legal.
A federal judge says she plans to issue a preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration policy that would cut funding for sex education programs, including so-called "gender ideology." The announcement came during a conference call with state attorneys and federal officials.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring schools from engaging in what it calls the "social transition" of transgender youth -- meaning any recognition of gender identity as distinct from biological sex, including using a student’s chosen name or pronouns or making accommodations based on gender identity.
A 14-year-old eighth-grade student in Arizona was forcibly removed from boys' basketball tryouts because school district officials refuse to recognize him as a boy due to an error on his original birth certificate.
Laker Jackson attends Eastmark High School, a grades 7-12 campus in Mesa, Arizona, and had spent a year training to make the basketball team. But district officials refused to treat the cisgender teen as a boy because the gender marker on his original birth certificate, used during enrollment, lists his sex as female.
The mix-up dates back 14 years, when hospital staff mistakenly listed Laker as female on his birth certificate. His parents, who have six children, say they never noticed the error until enrolling him at Eastmark last year.
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