Over the past several years, some school districts in Virginia, particularly in Northern Virginia, have embraced radical ideas about racial and gender ideology. As a mother of two young daughters who attend school in Fairfax County, I’m glad that a recent lawsuit against Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) seeks to end some of the district’s egregious practices.
The nonpartisan organization America First Legal recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of one Fairfax County student traumatized by the district’s policies. Specifically, regulations that the school board adopted violate the principles of religious freedom and place students in offensive and potentially dangerous situations.
In 2020, the Fairfax County School Board adopted Regulation 2603. Among other provisions, the regulation requires that “students who identify as gender-expansive or transgender should be called by their chosen name and pronouns” and that “gender-expansive and transgender students shall be provided with the option of using a locker room or restroom consistent with the student’s gender identity.”
In practice, this regulation has meant that the lawsuit’s complainant, a practicing Roman Catholic, must call her transgender-identifying classmates by “their chosen name and pronouns,” in violation of her sincere religious beliefs regarding the immutability of sex. And because Regulation 2603 permits transgender-identifying individuals to use restrooms “consistent with the student’s gender identity,” and not just single-use facilities, the complainant — and her other female classmates — must share restroom and locker room facilities with male students. Not to mention, FCPS policy states that students could be disciplined if they don’t comply.
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