When the parent of a freshman girl complained, administrators said her daughter would have to find somewhere else to change.

When a freshman girl at a Fairfax County high school went to change for gym class earlier this month, she encountered a male student in the girls’ locker room. The boy, who had facial hair, wasn’t changing his clothes; he was just standing there.

The girl’s account of the incident, which took place at West Springfield High School, is described in a civil rights complaint filed on behalf of the girl’s family by the Defense of Freedom Institute and obtained by National Review.

The girl reported the incident to a teacher but was told that the school couldn’t do anything about it, according to the complaint. But that didn’t seem right to her, so she called her mom, who then called school administrators. The student’s mother has asked that she and her daughter remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

Administrators promised to investigate the situation and returned two days later with an answer: If her daughter was uncomfortable with a male student watching her in the locker room, she would have to find somewhere else to change until a more permanent solution could be devised, according to the complaint. By that point, the parents of multiple other freshman girls had also called to complain.

“I was told that they’re looking into the [male] student’s rights, and that they would have to get back to me,” the girl’s mother told National Review. “That’s it. That’s all they said. They offered that my child could change in a different area if she felt uncomfortable or unsafe.”

School administrators told the mother that they’d find a solution by the date of the next gym class. The boy had been spotted by other students walking into the boys’ locker room earlier that day, the girl’s mother told NR — so it was a mystery as to why he was using girls’ facilities. The complaint confirms that the male student was known to use the boys’ locker room and bathrooms at the school.

One week after initially entering the girls’ locker room, the boy “again entered the girls’ locker room and watched the girls change for P.E. class,” according to the complaint. The next day, he watched the girls again.

In subsequent meetings with the freshman girl’s mother, school administrators promised that they would “look into the boy’s rights and responsibilities.”

Administrators instructed the boy to stop using the girls’ facilities until they could come up with a solution, but he refused, continuing to use the girls’ locker room, the complaint alleges. The administrators told the concerned mother that they would not stop him or discipline him for ignoring their directive.

School administrators ultimately decided to resolve the situation by shortening the amount of time the freshmen girls have to change in their own locker room, so that the male student (a sophomore) can enter the locker room after the freshmen to change with the older girls, according to the complaint.

When administrators called to inform the girl’s mother of their decision, they explained that the boy had a right to use the girl’s locker room because he identifies as female, according to the complaint.

Fairfax’s media office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“I’m just dumbfounded that this is even a thing, that I’m having to go to this length in order to protect my child,” the mom said. “At any point, as a parent, your first responsibility is to protect your child. You send them to school, you think they’re safe at school, and my daughter having to worry about a boy looking at her in the locker room is not safe.”

“It is not okay to teach girls that it’s okay to have a boy in their private areas.”

But teaching girls that it’s acceptable for males to invade their private areas is business as usual for Fairfax. Currently embroiled in a war with the Department of Education over a district policy that allows students to use private facilities according to their gender identity not biological sex, the district has repeatedly reiterated its belief that transgender-identifying students should use whichever locker rooms they prefer.

District policy allows “gender-expansive” and transgender students the option to use restrooms consistent with the student’s gender identity.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration found Fairfax’s transgender policy illegal under Title IX. After Fairfax refused to change its policy, the DOE designated the district as a “high-risk” recipient of federal funding, meaning that its expenditures are subject to a reimbursement review process.

“FCPS always seems to make the wrong choice in these matters,” president and co-founder of DFI Bob Eitel said. “Faced with a choice between violating or complying with Title IX, they choose to violate Title IX. Faced with a choice between sanctions or a resolution agreement with the Education Department, they choose sanctions. The time has come for Fairfax County Public Schools to end its massive resistance against federal civil rights enforcement.”

“Given its repeated violations of Title IX and refusal to cooperate and comply, FCPS should lose its federal funding until such time as it complies with Title IX,” Eitel added.

The latest update in the battle came last week when Fairfax filed a lawsuit against the Education Department for, the district claims, taking away “critical funds appropriated by Congress to support our most vulnerable children.”

Across the five Virginia school districts that enforce transgender bathroom policies, multiple accounts of sexual harassment related to transgender students have occurred. Loudoun County was the first district to come under fire when in 2021, a skirt-wearing boy sexually assaulted a girl in a high school bathroom.

Last year, tier-three sex offender Richard Cox was allowed access to the female locker room at a pool run by Arlington Public Schools because he claimed to identify as transgender. Mothers have since detailed to National Review their daughters’ experiences seeing a naked male in their locker rooms. Although parents reported Cox’s presence in the locker room, pool staff told them that they had to respect Cox’s self-reported gender identity.

At the beginning of the 2023 school year, a Loudoun County high school girl reported that there was a boy in her athletic girls’ locker room. The district simply said in response to her concerns that “LCPS is in compliance with current School Board policies, including Policy 8040,” the policy that makes allowances for trans-identifying students.

Most recently, two high school boys in Loudoun County were suspended and found responsible for sex-based discrimination in August after they questioned the presence of a girl in the boy’s locker room.

Even amid recent high-profile incidents, districts — specifically, Arlington and Fairfax, the two that have filed complaints against the DOE — have maintained their innocence. Despite being hit with multiple lawsuits over its controversial Regulation 2603, “Gender-Expansive and Transgender Students,” Fairfax has been unwavering in its defense of its transgender policies.

Fairfax Superintendent Michelle Reid said in a statement after the district was penalized by the Trump administration that it “remains dedicated to creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive school environment for all students and staff members, including our transgender and gender-expansive community.”

The complaint against Fairfax County schools requests that the Department of Education investigate the situation and revoke federal funding from the district if steps are not taken to protect female students from male intrusion in their private spaces.

For now, the freshman girl behind the complaint will continue to be forced to accommodate her male classmate.

As her mother explained, the girl’s request is simple: “She doesn’t want a boy in the girls’ locker room.”