The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has directed five school districts in Northern Virginia to immediately revoke their trans-inclusive bathroom and locker room policies, citing violations of Title IX.
The districts—Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County Public Schools—had adopted policies allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. The ED now claims these practices amount to sex-based discrimination.
The department’s directive marks a reversal from the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which considered anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination—including that based on gender identity—to be a form of sex discrimination, as established in the 2020 Supreme Court ruling Bostock v. Clayton County.
According to the ED, the investigation was prompted by complaints alleging that some students avoided using school facilities out of discomfort, and that there were instances of inappropriate behaviour in locker rooms. The ED claims such policies contributed to an unsafe environment, though no specific incidents have been independently verified.
Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, stated:
“Although this type of behavior was tolerated by the previous administration, it’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end.”
He further accused the districts of “trampling on the rights of students in the service of an extreme political ideology,” and said the ED would not “sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism.”
The schools have been given 10 days to revoke their trans-inclusive policies and adopt definitions of “male” and “female” based solely on biological sex in Title IX-related policies.
The directive cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors. The ED claims this decision supports their position that Title IX applies only to “biological sex.”
Supporters of trans rights argue that such policies contribute to increased harassment and violence toward transgender individuals. A 2021 UCLA Williams Institute study found that transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime. Advocacy groups such as the Movement Advancement Project have long warned that restricting trans individuals’ access to gender-aligned facilities puts both trans and cis people at greater risk.
Despite this, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin praised the ED’s ruling:
“These school divisions have been violating federal law, deliberately neglecting their responsibility to protect students’ safety, privacy and dignity, and ignoring parents’ rights. They got away with this behaviour because the Biden administration backed them up. Commonsense is back.”
The ruling signals a broader rollback of trans-inclusive protections in schools, setting up potential legal battles and renewed scrutiny over the interpretation of Title IX.
