Parents blast school board as boys investigated for complaining about trans student in locker room
Furious parents vented their anger at a Virginia county school board meeting on Tuesday following news that three male students are under investigation after they were recorded in a male locker room complaining about a biological female getting changed alongside them.
The Loudoun County Public Schools -- which made national headlines in 2021 when a father was arrested and hauled out of a board meeting for speaking out about the sexual assault of his daughter by a trans student at a local school -- is investigating the boys for Title IX violations.
The trans boy, a biological female, recorded them questioning why "a girl" was present, with one student expressing that he felt "uncomfortable" about the situation at Stone Bridge High School.
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It is illegal to record inside locker rooms, but a Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) official confirmed to Fox 5 DC that none of the boys appeared in compromising positions in the video and, therefore, it was determined that no privacy laws were violated.
Nevertheless, the boys are under investigation for allegedly violating policy 8040, a controversial guideline adopted in 2021 that permits students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
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Scott Smith, the father arrested during that heated incident in 2021, took to the mic and blasted the board, accusing them of initially denying that his daughter had been raped and warning them that their policies could lead to similar consequences for other students.
"And now four years later you're doing the same damn thing," Smith said. "You're victimizing innocent children over the priority of kids that don't know," he said before his mic appeared to be muted after his one-minute speaking slot had expired and he was told to hand step aside.
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"I'm not done yet," Smith roared. "You guys are sick and pathetic," he said to applause.
Smith's words, and the words of some 130 parents who spoke, were not recorded on video, as the board voted last year to omit a video display during the public comment section of its board meetings.
The decision was blasted by Smith at the time, who told "America's Newsroom" that the board was trying to shut down public dissent to their radical policies. Smith's daughter was sexually assaulted at Stone Bridge High School by a transgender student in 2021.
Smith was convicted of disorderly conduct stemming from the 2021 school board meeting, but he was later pardoned by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Suzanne Satterfield also took aim at the board on Tuesday, saying that children rely on adults to be truthful and protect them from harm.
"Every girl and boy has the right to feel secure using private spaces without being invaded by the opposite sex," Satterfield said. "Every day that policy 8040 remains in play children are being lied to so that that they can be born in the wrong body can change their sex."
Speaker Amy Paul ripped the board and said that policy 8040 is "insane."
"You all have helped facilitate this charade for long enough and it's time to put an end to the madness," Paul said. "You're investigating three young men for having common sense enough to state the obvious, girls do not belong in boys locker rooms."
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"Please don't tell me that he or she is really a he, we're done playing that game, there is no such thing as a child born in the wrong body… You're taking kids who have serious issues and instead of trying to understand why they're rejecting their true selves, you encourage them to go down a path that could lead to irreparable harm to their bodies. It's time for you to act like the adults."
Not everyone disagreed with policy 8040, with one female speaker saying that the policy was created with input from experts, data and community feedback to ensure that all students are safe, seen and supported. She said the uproar has conveniently come about because of the gubernatorial election later this year.
"Transgender people exist. They always have no executive order, sermon or headline or public comment can erase them," she said.
"We cannot, in good faith, debate policies impacting students if we deny the existence of those very students. That's not discourse. That's dehumanization. We have seen this playbook before, fear mongering, misinformation and political theater all at the expense of vulnerable children. It's happening again, just as it did four years ago.
Meanwhile, Youngkin has requested the state's attorney general launch an independent investigation into how LCPS has managed the situation, according to Fox 5.
The controversy in Loudoun County came the day after parents and residents clashed at a school board meeting in the Chicago area on Monday after a trans junior high school student won multiple events at a local track meet.Original article source: Parents blast school board as boys investigated for complaining about trans student in locker room
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