Education Dept. says Virginia school district ignored boys’ sexual harassment claims, violated Title IX
The Department of Education says a Virginia school district violated Title IX by suspending male students who objected to a female student using their locker room.
After a female student identifying as a male entered a boys’ locker room in a Virginia school district and recorded several male students, two boys objected and were suspended for sex-based discrimination.
An investigation by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found LCPS dismissed the boys’ claims of sexual harassment but investigated the girl’s allegations that the boys harassed her, which violates Title IX.
LCPS has 10 days to resolve its Title IX violations by accepting several terms related to proper investigation of future Title IX claims, the OCR says.
The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced Sept. 16 that a Virginia school district violated Title IX by suspending two male students who objected to a female student using their locker room and recording them.
In a press release, the OCR stated that its investigation found that Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) did not address the male students’ reports of sexual harassment regarding the female student’s presence in their locker room at Stone Bridge High School. However, LCPS did investigate the female student’s claims that she was sexually harassed by the boys, resulting in the boys’ suspension from the school for 10 days, as Zeale previously reported.
The OCR said that LCPS’ actions constituted sex-based discrimination by failing to treat both the male and female students’ complaints equally.
In the release, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said that the school district’s “adherence to radical gender ideology has repeatedly placed its students in harm’s way.”
He added, “Loudoun’s policy of allowing students to occupy intimate facilities based on ‘gender identity’ rather than biological sex violates Title IX, compromises safety, and infringes upon the dignity and privacy interests to which students are entitled.”
As Zeale previously reported, the female student, who identifies as male, recorded the boys in their locker room in fall 2024. After the two boys objected to her presence in the locker room, LCPS opened a Title IX investigation into them and concluded that they were guilty of sex-based discrimination and sexual harassment.
In addition to being suspended for 10 days, the boys were told they could not be in contact with the female student, an order which bans them from even taking the same classes. They were also told to meet with school administrators to determine a corrective action plan.
According to the release, the OCR has given LCPS 10 days to accept the Education Department’s terms of resolution: rescinding the boys’ suspensions; reviewing disciplinary measures imposed on the boys; apologizing for LCPS’ failure to properly investigate the Title IX complaints; notifying students and parents that LCPS will properly investigate such complaints; and providing training to high school and LCPS staff who respond to Title IX complaints.
The release also highlighted the OCR’s July discovery that five Virginia districts violated Title IX by allowing students to use sex-segregated spaces based on their gender identity instead of their true sex. As Zeale previously reported, the OCR in August placed the districts on “high-risk” payment status and cut off their direct access to federal funds after the districts refused to resolve its Title IX violations.
