Fairfax County School Board Asked a Judge to Dismiss Teenage Girl’s Lawsuit Over ‘Transgender’ Policy — Here is What He Said

America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit in March against the Fairfax County School Board on behalf of a female student for discriminating against her and other students and violating her free speech rights.

Under a “transgender” policy, the school district allows boys pretending to be girls to access girls’ private spaces like restrooms and locker rooms and encourages students to lie and participate in boys’ fantasies. They must refer such boys as “her” and “she” and call them by new names.

AFL said their client is a practicing Roman Catholic who has “sincerely held beliefs that govern her views about human nature, marriage, gender, sexuality, and other social issues. Accordingly, she believes that God creates each person as male or female; to reject one’s biological sex is to reject the image of God within that person.”

The school board asked a circuit court judge to dismiss both claims. The judge last week rejected the motion to dismiss the free speech claim — but not the discrimination claim. From 7 News (emphasis added):

On Thursday, the judge did sustain FCPS’ demur as it relates to the school system’s bathroom policy, “as it finds the petitioner did not allege discriminatory purpose or intent,” the judge’s order stated.

The court did grant the student time to amend her petition within 21 days if she chooses as it relates to FCPS’ bathroom policy.

The plaintiff can also sue for damages.

She has since graduated from high school, and the court heard arguments about whether the case is moot. The school board told 7 News that it is “disappointed with yesterday’s ruling declining to dismiss the entire lawsuit but are pleased the court dismissed some claims and that our policies will remain in place as this case proceeds.”

Jason Miyares, Virginia’s attorney general, submitted an amicus brief in the case. According to 7 News, the judge allowed the filing over the school board’s objection.

Andrew Block, the plaintiff’s lawyer, said the Fairfax County School Board’s policy “is that she has to endorse that or else face discipline in any number of contexts whether she was to misgender or deadname, whether intentionally or accidentally. And so that has had a chilling effect on her. So she’s challenging it on religious grounds.”

Photo credit: By Famartin – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, link

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