Three students were suspended after a locker room incident involving a transgender student, prompting public criticism from Republican officials and candidates who said Loudoun County Public Schools’ policies jeopardize student privacy and safety.
Parents told a Washington, D.C., Fox affiliate in August that their sons were disciplined after expressing discomfort about a transgender student who identifies as male using the boys’ locker room. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares later launched a Title IX probe into the district’s handling of the matter and referred aspects of the inquiry to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, lieutenant governor candidate John Reid, state Del. Geary Higgins and other local Republicans publicly criticized the school board during a Tuesday meeting outside the board’s offices in Ashburn. Higgins, who described himself as the last Republican state lawmaker in Loudoun County and a former school board member, said the board was “double and triple down on their illegal policy at taxpayers’ expense” and accused it of advancing a “radical, science-denying agenda.”
“These boys are the victims of the School Board’s science-denying nonsense, not troublemakers or criminals,” Higgins said, adding that the students had been “punished and defamed for sexual harassment simply because they were uncomfortable with a female watching them change and filming them in their locker room.” He urged voters to elect Earle-Sears and Reid and to reelect Miyares, and called for a new, “common-sense” school board in the county’s next municipal election.
Earle-Sears, speaking outside the meeting, said attendees were focused on ensuring student privacy. “Every child has privacy. Every child deserves that privacy,” she told reporters, saying parents should not have to watch children undress in front of students of the opposite sex. She also said she was precluded from speaking during the official comment period because she is not a county resident or former student.
Loudoun County Public Schools responded to questions from Fox News Digital with a statement saying the district would not suspend a student simply for expressing discomfort and that Title IX investigations require a high bar to be opened and an even higher bar to determine a violation. A district spokesman rejected suggestions that education quality in the county had declined as a result of the board’s policies, calling that contention “completely not true.”
The dispute comes amid broader national debate over school policies for transgender students, including access to restrooms and locker rooms. Loudoun County, once more rural and traditionally Republican, has trended more Democratic as suburban growth from the Washington region reshaped its electorate. Officials and local activists have clashed repeatedly in recent years over curriculum, student services and administrative decisions.
Miyares’ office confirmed the state-level Title IX probe after the school’s initial investigation into the complaints. The attorney general’s referral to federal agencies indicates the matter is under further review, but neither the state nor federal agencies have released findings publicly.
School board meetings and protests over policies affecting transgender students have become focal points for both parties in Virginia politics, with Republicans using such incidents to press for changes and Democrats defending inclusive policies as protections for transgender students. Loudoun County’s recent controversies have drawn attention from state and national figures and are likely to shape local campaigns ahead of forthcoming elections.
The school board has said it will continue to handle student discipline and Title IX matters through established procedures. Parents, elected officials and candidates involved in the dispute said they are awaiting the outcome of the state and federal reviews and plan to press elected officials and school board candidates on policies related to student privacy and safety in the coming months.