The US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced it will join a lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board in Virginia for alleged religious discrimination after two Christian high school boys were suspended for complaining about a transgender student in their locker room.
In the case S.W. et al. v. Loudoun County School Board, the DOJ said it is accusing the Virginia school system of forcing its concept of “gender identity” on students without considering their religious beliefs.
“Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality.”
According to the case, a transgender student accessed a male-designated locker room at Stone Bridge High School during the 2024–25 school year. The student was permitted to enter the locker room under district policy.
Two male students, who identify as Christian, raised concerns and filed complaints about the transgender student in the locker room. The students were ultimately suspended for ten days under Title IX for statements allegedly made on a recording the transgender student captured in the locker room.
According to the DOJ, the school district’s Policy 8040 requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, regardless of their religious beliefs, including “practical application” that affects all students’ use of intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and changing facilities.
“Loudoun County determined that these Christian, male students’ religious practice violated school policy, recasting constitutionally protected activity as ‘sex-based discrimination’ and ‘sexual harassment,’” the DOJ said. “As punishment, Loudoun County suspended the boys for ten days and ordered them to submit to a ‘Comprehensive Student Support Plan’ that further violates the boys’ right to free exercise of religion at school.”