NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
FIRST ON FOX – Two Virginia boys who were suspended after complaining about a transgender classmate in their locker room have won emergency relief in federal court.
Earlier this year, the Loudoun County Public Schools district in Northern Virginia launched a Title IX sexual harassment investigation into two high-school-aged boys after they were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys’ locker room. The video caught them outwardly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a girl using their facilities.
That moment resulted in a Title IX investigation launched by the Northern Virginia school district into the two boys, which ultimately found the pair responsible for sexual harassment, a mark that will be placed on their permanent records, and suspended them for 10 days.
The boys’ parents and their legal representatives appealed the district’s Title IX ruling, but the appeal was denied. The parents then took their case to federal court. Within days of the federal court filing, a judge subsequently granted the parents and their boys emergency relief, blocking the district’s disciplinary repercussions once again while the case moves forward.
PARENTS: VIRGINIA BOYS SUSPENDED AFTER QUESTIONING TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM POLICY WERE IGNORED BY SCHOOL
“We are very pleased with the Court’s decision and we look forward to fighting on behalf of our clients,” said Ian Prior, senior counselor at the Trump-aligned legal group America First Legal (AFL). AFL joined the Founding Freedoms Law Center in the case after it went into federal court.
One of the boys and their families moved out of state, but the other still goes to school within the Loudoun County Public Schools system. Amid the earlier Title IX appeal by the boys’ families and their legal counsel, the suspension was previously stalled, but it resumed after the district’s denial of their appeal last week. However, the suspension has now been placed on hold again, following the court’s order for emergency relief.
Judge Leonie Brinkema, from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in her order that there was enough evidence showing that keeping the one boy suspended for the first 10 days of school could cause “irreparable harm.”
VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT VOTES TO KEEP GENDER BATHROOM POLICY, DEFYING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DIRECTIVE
“For a court to issue a temporary restraining order, a plaintiff ‘must establish that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest,'” the judge wrote in her order. “The loss of 10 days of in-person school early in the school year could have serious negative effects on [the plaintiff], and it appears from the record before the Court that [the plaintiff] has not had contact with the complaining student or continued communicating about that student. Therefore, the Court finds that the balance of equities tips in [the plaintiff’s] favor, given that [the plaintiff] is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a temporary restraining order … The Court also finds that the public interest is best served by ensuring high school students remain in school and receive adequate process before being suspended.”
Brinkema added in her ruling that she is “not certain” that the plaintiffs will succeed on the merits of their argument, but she did concede that the allegations put forward by the parents and their legal counsel were “troubling.”
The lawsuit from AFL and the Founding Freedoms Law Center on behalf of the boys and their parents is demanding that the “false Title IX charge” against both of the boys for sexual harassment be dropped from their records, an immediate termination of the boys’ suspension, and compensation for “severe emotional, reputational, and educational harm.”
“This isn’t just about our sons — it’s about every child in Loudoun County. If the district can weaponize Title IX in this way, no family is safe,” Seth Wolfe, the father of one of the boys said. “No parent should have to fear their child will be branded a ‘sexual harasser’ simply for standing up for their privacy.”
The Loudoun County Public Schools district did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Read the full article here
