Virginia is investigating reports that the district is charging three high school boys for sexual harassment after a transgender student secretly filmed a video in the boy's locker room.
Recorded at Stonebridge High School in Ultrawee Crowton County, the video shows young boys committing the unfortunate crime of expressing displeasure at the girl's presence in the locker room.
“I am deeply concerned about reading reports of yet another incident at a Loudon County school where members of the opposite sex are violating the privacy of students in the locker room,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a press release. “More surprisingly, the victims of this violation are those under investigation. This is incredible.”
Youngkin directed state attorney general Jason Miyarez to investigate the matter. Both men are Republicans.
Gender, man, videotape
The WJLA reported on Monday that “female students identified as male have been using boys' locker rooms (Stonebridge High School) for a while.”
The Richmond-based Founding Freedom Law Centre (FFLC) represents the boy and his parents. They said in a May 6 press release:
The female student filed a complaint with school officials after secretly video recording several boys in the locker room. One of our clients (whose identity is withheld for his protection) simply said, “Why is there a girl in the locker room?” The other boy had gone to the PE teacher and principal in advance to express his discomfort to the girl who shares the locker room with the boy.
Unfortunately, these authorities' hands were tied to the policy 8040 of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). That policy requires students to be allowed to use facilities that correspond to consistently asserted gender identities.
public relations
But fortunately, the boys believe their parents are sticking to them and that they have done nothing wrong. In addition to FFLC's involvement, parents make claims in the media and in the school board.
“I think the policy itself creates an unsafe environment for all children at all levels,” the boy's father told WJLA.
He said:
I also have a daughter who is in high school. If there's a guy video recording her in the locker room, there's a problem. If that's my son and there's a woman on the video recording in the locker room, I have a problem. Even if it was someone of the same sex, I believe this is an invasion of their privacy.
He also expressed concern that the discovery of sexual harassment will “follow” his son for the rest of his life.
One of the boy's mothers spoke at the school bulletin session on Tuesday, WJLA reported:
I'm here to speak on behalf of my son. He has been falsely accused of violating Title IX. In fact, he is the victim of an unsupported Title IX violation, ignored and unsupported by the very system that is supposed to protect him.
And the father of one boy said he was considering leaving Loudoun County for a school investigation. He told WJLA on Wednesday:
Loudoun County public schools simply get out of the route, rather than fixing the issue… They haven't fixed the issue. They are causing more problems.
This county is too liberal for me. I can be the most liberal person on the surface of the planet, but when it comes to family, I am the most conservative.
Investigator's investigation
LCPS maintains mothers wherever possible in the investigation, except to accuse the WJLA of spreading lies. In a statement to the Daily Caller, LCPS said it cannot discuss the situation due to student concerns. However, it argued that WJLA's first story “contains false and misleading information presented in a biased manner from a single source.”
The WJLA retorted on Wednesday that it “gathered information from multiple trusted sources over multiple days” before publishing the story. Additionally, LCPS Supervision, the School Board and the Public Relations Department all failed to respond to WJLA inquiries for “a few days” before the story was reported. As of Wednesday, seven of the nine board members had answered, but only one answered a question from the station.
LCPS also told it to daily callers
We will not investigate or discipline students based on personal opinions, thoughts or beliefs. These expressions are subject to no violation of policies that prohibit hate speech, discriminatory language, threats, or other forms of harmful or destructive conduct. (Added emphasis.)
Of course, I would like to ask the Loudoun County Board of Education on the far left why boy-identifying girls are in boys' locker rooms as “hate speech.”
LCPS is subject to a federal investigation into whether the bathroom and locker room policies themselves violate Title IX, in accordance with President Donald Trump's inauguration date executive order. Now it faces further scrutiny from Richmond.
Miyares was called LCPS. He said in a press release:
This is just the latest example of what happens when a school board ignores common sense. The safety, dignity and privacy of all students in Virginia must be non-negotiable. This is about safety and privacy, not political correctness, and when Loudoun County realised it.
