Feds to investigate bathroom privacy at Virginia school district

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday said he was referring an investigation into Loudoun County Public Schools, or LCPS, to the Education Department and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The governor said Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares found evidence that the school district retaliated against students’ religious beliefs and allowed an egregious invasion of their privacy.

What spurred the investigation? A female student, who identifies as male, filmed three male students at Stone Bridge High School objecting to her presence in their locker room. LCPS opened a Title IX investigation of the incident, alleging possible sex-based discrimination on the part of the male students. The students insisted that they were expressing sincere religious objections to the district’s Policy 8040, according to Miyares. The rule allows students to use sex-segregated facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity. Although school policy does not allow students to record videos of each other in private spaces, the female student didn’t appear to face consequences, according to local news.

Dig deeper: Read Alyssa Griffith’s report on the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear a case on a school’s ban of a student’s “only two genders” shirt.