McMahon: Virginia School District Bathroom Policies Violate Title IX

The Department of Education has concluded in an investigation that started shortly after President Donald Trump took office that five Northern Virginia school districts' bathroom and locker room policies violate Title IX federal law and an executive order calling for the end of "radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling."

Secretary Linda McMahon told Washington, D.C., ABC affiliate WJLA Friday that the school districts' policies of allowing students to use facilities matching their gender identity, not their birth sex, were "making girls feel vulnerable."

"They don't want to sit there and have boys watch them undress, or to have boys undress in front of them," McMahon said. "And these are high schools that we're talking about. So these are really young men and women in these locker rooms. And so we feel that they have to change that policy."

The districts involved are Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Prince William County Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools and Loudoun County Public Schools. None have commented about the findings. 

McMahon said her office will give the school districts 10 days to reverse their policies and if they don't, she will forward the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

"We mean business about this," she said. "Title IX is very important. And you know, women and girls fought for a long time to be able to have the rights to have their own sports, their own changing and intimate facilities, and they won. It’s the law. And so we need to abide by the law."

She added that she would advise the district superintendents to "obey the law."

"Title IX is the law," she said. "I mean, it was just recently the Biden administration's interpretation of Title IX was overturned. So it is back to its original interpretation, which is the identification of women and men and the basis of biological sex. And I think we need to identify what we mean by sex. It's male and female, period."

She added that if the five districts choose to keep their policies, the federal government could block their federal funding. 

The investigation was spurred by a complaint from America First Legal against the districts. 

The complaint included some of WJLA's reporting about claims that a registered sex offender allegedly identified as being transgender and was allowed to use the women's locker room at two high schools in the Arlington Public Schools district. 

According to witnesses and police, the suspect allegedly exposed himself to girls and women, the station reported. 

"Doesn't [it] just fly in the face of common sense, for number one, when you just think about that?" said McMahon. "Picture if you are a parent of these girls, and this is allowed to happen, but especially a known sex offender, it's just wrong. It's patently wrong, it's dangerous, and it has to be stopped."

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