Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has been sued for its policy forcing girls to share restrooms and locker rooms with transgender students.
America First Legal (AFL) filed a 31-page lawsuit and over 300 pages of evidentiary exhibits on behalf of a high school senior. The suit argues that the Virginia public-school district is discriminating against female students on the basis of sex and religion and violated their free-speech rights under the Virginia constitution. The conservative legal nonprofit announced the litigation on Tuesday after filing it the day before.
“Fairfax County Public Schools appears to believe that its policies and regulations can override the Virginia Constitution’s protections for religious beliefs, speech, and from government discrimination on the basis of sex and religious beliefs,” AFL senior advisor Ian Prior said in a statement. “It is well past time for FCPS to stop sacrificing the constitutional rights of its students so that it can implement a state-sanctioned ideology that demands compliance in speech, beliefs, and conduct.”
AFL specifically takes issue with FCPS Regulation 2603, which allows students to use the bathroom and locker room that is “consistent with the student’s gender identity” without having to resort to a single-use facility, according to the complaint. However, this comes at the expense of other students.
The policy in question also requires all students to refer to “students who identify as gender-expansive or transgender by their chosen name and pronoun, regardless of the name and gender recorded in the student’s permanent pupil record,” as cited by the lawsuit.
The plaintiff is an anonymous female student who has been enrolled in the Fairfax school district since the third grade. Because of her deeply held Roman Catholic beliefs, she doesn’t support the rule and feels that its requirement to use preferred pronouns “forces her to lie,” the filing states.
FCPS adopted the first version of Regulation 2603, entitled “Gender-Expansive and Transgender Students,” in October 2020. It was later updated in April 2022.
Under these guidelines, students must take the “Student Rights and Responsibilities” test. One of the questions asks whether “a student has the right to be called by their chosen name and pronoun,” according to a copy of the form.
“Unfortunately, FCPS has repeatedly demonstrated that it will not voluntarily comply with the Virginia constitution and the Virginia Supreme Court’s rulings, so it will be up to students and parents to enforce their rights through the courts,” said Prior. “We are proud to help them do just that.”
FCPS did not respond to National Review’s request for comment.