Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has opened an investigation into Loudoun County Public Schools after the district attempted to discipline three boys who expressed concerns over the presence of a girl in the men’s locker room.
The female student, who identifies as a male, has used the boys locker room at Stone Bridge High School for months in accordance with district policy that allows students to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their gender identity and not their biological sex. In March, the female student allegedly used her phone to record a group of boys in the locker room, one of the boys’ fathers told 7News’s Nick Minock.
When the three high school boys expressed that they were uncomfortable having a female in their private spaces, LCPS opened a formal Title IX investigation against the boys, accusing them of sexual harassment for questioning the presence of a girl in the boys’ locker room.
“This is just the latest example of what happens when school boards disregard common sense. The safety, dignity, and privacy of every student in Virginia should be non-negotiable. This is about safety and privacy, not political correctness — and it’s time Loudoun County recognized that,” Miyares said in a statement.
It’s not the first time Stone Bridge bathrooms or LCPS’s transgender policies, which were enacted in 2021, have been in the news. In May 2021, a girl was violently sexually assaulted in a Stone Bridge bathroom by a boy “wearing a skirt,” her father Scott Smith said at the time — igniting a fierce battle in the district between transgender activists and families who said that the district’s radical policies put students in harm’s way.
LCPS “failed at every juncture” to protect Smith’s daughter, a grand jury ultimately found, and the bathroom rape perpetrator was found guilty of sexual assault. Smith, who was arrested and charged after he argued with the Loudoun County School Board during a contentious meeting, was pardoned by Governor Glenn Youngkin in 2023.
Youngkin responded to the latest news at Stone Bridge, saying that “it’s deeply concerning to read reports of yet another incident in Loudoun County schools where members of the opposite sex are violating the privacy of students in locker rooms.”
“Even more alarming, the victims of this violation are the ones being investigated — this is beyond belief. I’ve asked Attorney General Miyares to investigate this situation immediately so that every student’s privacy, dignity and safety are upheld. Students who express legitimate concerns about sharing locker rooms with individuals of the opposite biological sex should not be subjected to harassment or discrimination claims,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Parental rights are not negotiable.”