SPRINGFIELD, Virginia — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has been asked to investigate a Title IX complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools for allowing a male to change in the female locker room.
The incident, highlighted by Defense of Freedom Institute, took place at West Springfield High School in Virginia when a boy, who identifies as female, was allowed to enter the girls’ locker room and watch them change clothes before Physical Education class.
On Sept 2, a freshman girl told a teacher she was uncomfortable when a boy entered the high school locker room during school hours. The complaint describes him as having facial hair and wearing pants so tight that they clearly outlined his genitalia. Girls in the locker room were in various stages of undress as they got ready for P.E. class. The teacher responded by saying there was nothing the teacher could do because the boy identified as female.
The 14-year-old girl then called her mother, who, over the next couple of days, called the WSHS administrators’ office but received no response.
According to the complaint, by Sept. 4, other parents had called the school to complain because their own daughters were also upset this boy was being allowed to enter a locker room reserved for females while girls were changing their clothes.
The administrator’s solution was for the girls to use a different facility, such as a unisex bathroom, if they are uncomfortable undressing in the presence of a boy in the girls’ locker room.
When the boy entered the girls’ locker room on Sept.10, one female student took a picture of the boy standing in the locker room and watching the girls change around him.
This incident caused a meeting with assistant principals, Shannon Matheny and Amy Tasaka, and other school personnel. The complaint says during the meeting, “They explained that they were continuing to look into the boy’s rights and responsibilities.” A WSHS’s school resource officer took a look at a copy of the image taken by a female student of the boy and told both vice principals, “the student in question is a male and that he was standing in the girls’ locker room.”
Both assistant principals said they would not stop the boy from entering the girls’ facilities and refuse to enforce any consequences if he continued to use them.
After another week of complaints, the school’s solution was to rush the freshman girls in changing for class. The boy is still using the locker room and getting changed with his 10th grade female classmates.
On Sept 24, DFI filed an OCR complaint on behalf of a mother and her daughter who want their school to follow the law and protect girls’ rights by separating the school locker room by biological sex.
“FCPS always seems to make the wrong choice in these matters,” said Bob Eitel, President and Co-Founder of DFI. “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.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) responded to news of the complaint by saying, “These radical gender policies are not just some abstract fight over politics – they are hurting real children in Fairfax County schools every day. We are working with the US Department of Education to reverse these policies and protect girls in our schools.”
He then took the opportunity to remind people this is on the ballot this November in Virginia as his Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R-VA) is running against Rep. Abigail Spanberger in the Virginia gubernatorial election.
“Every Virginia parent needs to understand this: Winsome Earle-Sears will fight with you, and Abigail Spanberger will fight against you.”
Sears also responded to the filing, saying, “A freshman girl was told to find another place to change because she was uncomfortable that a boy was in her locker room watching her. Abigail Spanberger voted for that.”
“How sick,” Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-VA) said. “The safety, dignity, and privacy of every student in Virginia should be non-negotiable.”
Riley Gaines, who became known for speaking out against a biological man, Lia Thomas, entering her locker room during swim meets, also responded to the incident.
“A boy who uses the boys bathroom at school goes into the girls PE locker room and watches them undress,” Gaines said. “This should be treated as a criminal offense. Any comment, Abigail Spanberger? Or can we expect silence per usual?”
In recent weeks, local news reporters in Virginia have tried to ask Spanberger her views on allowing transgender individuals into locker rooms of the sex they identify with instead of the sex they were born, and Spanberger has notably avoided answering the question.
The complaint notes FCPS is unlawfully permitting students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their “gender identity” rather than biological sex.
A press release states, “DFI argues these policies violate Title IX, place girls at risk of harassment, violate their rights under Title IX, and illegally condition their participation in school programs on undressing in the presence of boys. The complaint also explains how the school district violated Title IX by failing to restore the girls’ equal access to the school’s programs in the face of numerous reports of harassment.”
DFI is asking the Department of Education to have the FCPS comply with federal law by enforcing sex-separated locker rooms and other intimate facilities for their students or lose their federal funding.
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“Despite recent actions by the Education Department, Fairfax County continues to allow boys to use girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and other intimate facilities as a condition of its educational program,” said Eitel. “Given its repeated violations of Title IX and refusal to cooperate and comply, FCPS should lose its federal funding until it complies with Title IX.”
DFI is a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., and according to the press release, prides itself on being dedicated to defending and advancing freedom and opportunity for every American family, student, entrepreneur, and worker, and to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of Americans at school and in the workplace.
