Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has concluded its investigation of five Northern Virginia school districts (the Divisions) for allegations of discrimination on the basis of sex. OCR determined that the Divisions’ policies, which allow students to access intimate, sex-segregated facilities based on the students’ subjective ‘gender identity,’ violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
In February of this year, OCR opened an investigation into Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools. The investigation was based on complaints alleging that the Divisions have similar anti-discrimination policies pertaining to “transgender-identifying” students, which violate the sex-based protections of Title IX. The Divisions are also the subject of several lawsuits, informal complaints, and reports, which allege that students in the Divisions avoid using school restrooms whenever possible because of the schools’ policies, and that female students have witnessed male students inappropriately touching other students and watching female students change in a female locker room.
“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. OCR’s investigation definitively shows that these five Virginia school districts have been trampling on the rights of students in the service of an extreme political ideology,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “The Trump Administration will not sacrifice the safety, dignity, and innocence of America’s young women and girls at the altar of an anti-scientific illiberalism.”
As a result of the noncompliance finding, OCR has issued a proposed Resolution Agreement to the Divisions to resolve their Title IX violations. OCR has offered the Divisions an opportunity to voluntarily agree within 10 days or risk imminent enforcement action including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Department of Education’s proposed Resolution Agreement requires the Divisions to take the following actions:
(i) Rescind the policies and/or regulations that allow students to access intimate facilities based on their “gender identity” rather than their sex;
(ii) Issue a memorandum to each Division school explaining that any future policies related to access to intimate facilities must be consistent with Title IX by separating students strictly on the basis of sex, and that Title IX ensures women’s equal opportunity in any education program or activity including athletic programs; and
(iii) Adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and “female” in all practices and policies relating to Title IX.
Background
On June 18, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning certain medical care for minors related to treating “gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, or gender incongruence,” and held that laws regulating medical treatment or procedures in this realm are subject to rational basis review rather than heighted scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. In so holding, the Supreme Court acknowledged that a person’s identification as “transgender” is distinct from a person’s “biological sex.”
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
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