“Public schools cannot force students to echo contested ideology or sacrifice their privacy to satisfy leftist bureaucrats,” said Ian Prior, senior counsel at AFL. “This case is about restoring sanity, fairness, and the constitutional rights every student deserves.”

The suit marks the second complaint the school district has faced in recent weeks amid a broader funding battle with the Trump administration, which is threatening federal funding over the school district’s Title IX compliance issues.

TITLE IX COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST FAIRFAX COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOR ALLOWING A BOY IN THE GIRLS LOCKER ROOM

Restroom access at center of Title IX claim

At the heart of the 34-page complaint is an incident at West Springfield High School, where Doe says she encountered a biologically male student inside the girls’ restroom. That student, referred to in court filings as “Richard Roe,” did not identify as transgender but said he felt unsafe using the boys’ restroom due to bullying. Fairfax school officials allowed Roe to continue using the girls’ facility, while instructing Doe to use a single-occupancy or nurse’s office bathroom instead.

The lawsuit argues that this accommodation violated Doe’s rights under Title IX by granting a male student access to female-only spaces while denying female students equivalent protections.

“The School Board gave a male student safety and comfort at the expense of the girls who were supposed to have protected access to those facilities,” the complaint states.

Despite repeated objections from Doe’s mother, school officials upheld the policy and did not restrict Roe’s access to the girls’ restroom, even after he acknowledged using it for his own perceived safety, not based on gender identity.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration discarded former President Joe Biden-era Title IX rules by stripping out language related to “gender identity” and restored language that defines sex strictly as biological male or female. The revised regulations also barred schools from compelling students to use gender-affirming pronouns and prohibited transgender students from accessing restrooms or locker rooms that do not align with their biological sex.

Compelled pronouns, religious conflict

AFL’s lawsuit also challenges Fairfax County’s regulations requiring students to use classmates’ “preferred pronouns” and names, regardless of biological sex. Doe, a practicing Roman Catholic, said these mandates violated her religious beliefs and forced her to self-censor in class to avoid punishment.

Under the district’s Student Rights & Responsibilities guide, students can face suspension for “misgendering,” even when unintentional. Doe claims she was pressured to affirm the policy through a mandatory digital test, which included questions such as a true-or-false choice about whether “a student has the right to be called by their chosen name and pronoun.”

Choosing “false” was marked incorrect, and Doe refused to complete the test.

Teachers also asked students to share their pronouns publicly and fill out forms with pronoun preferences, the lawsuit alleges — conduct the complaint characterizes as a government-imposed “religious test.”

“These policies don’t just chill speech — they compel students to endorse beliefs they don’t hold,” said AFL attorney Andrew Block. “That’s unconstitutional.”

Recent legal setback adds pressure on district

The federal complaint follows a major legal defeat for Fairfax County in its clash with the Department of Education.

In July, the department found that the district’s locker room and restroom policies violated Title IX by allowing biological males into female-only spaces. Fairfax has refused to comply and instead sued the federal government, seeking to block the department from halting federal funding.

Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the school board’s emergency motion for an injunction, leaving the funding cutoff in place for now.

Other districts in Northern Virginia, including Arlington, Loudoun, Prince William, and Alexandria, are also under federal scrutiny for similar policies.

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATES FAIRFAX COUNTY DISTRICT ACCUSED OF HELPING STUDENTS GET ABORTIONS

Merrifield

The lawsuit, Doe v. Fairfax County School Board, seeks a jury trial, nominal damages, and declaratory relief. The result of the case could set national precedents on compelled speech, religious liberty, and continuity in the application of Title IX.

The school board has not yet responded to the lawsuit. AFL is litigating the case in partnership with law firm Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig.