21-05-2025
Trans student ends up in trouble after filming teens in locker-room accused of bullying
A transgender student who filmed three boys in a Virginia high school locker room he said were bullying him over his gender identity has faced a backlash from parents.
Loudoun County Public Schools launched a Title IX investigation - a probe into an allegation of sexual harassment - earlier this month after the trans student videoed a group of boys complaining there was a biological female in the changing room.
But a packed LCPS board meeting grew heated on Tuesday night as parents said it was the boys in the video who were made uncomfortable, and claimed they were inappropriately recorded and wrongly investigated.
The video shot by the trans student has been made public after the families of the accused teens had allegedly been denied copies of the footage.
Most the of video was dark as the phone appeared to be recording while in the trans student's pocket, with locker room sounds and boy's voices.
A boy can then be heard asking: 'There's a girl in here? There's a girl?', and around 30 seconds later a student said: 'Why is there a girl? I'm so uncomfortable there is a girl.'
Another boy responded: 'A female, bro, get out of here.'
It was at this point that the trans student appeared to take the phone from his pocket and aim it at the boys, with the shower and bathroom area in the background, before the clip ended.
The three censored segments were when the boys' names were spoken.
The parents of the boys have said they were having a conversation among themselves and not with the female student.
LCPS had refused to give a copy of the video to the three boys who are being investigated, according to the their families.
They obtained it via the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating if the trans student committed a crime by recording minors.
LCPS explicitly bans locker room recordings, but in an email to Seth Wolfe, the father of one of the boys, a representative allegedly told him the video did not compromise anyone's privacy.
Wolfe added: 'I have a daughter that's in high school as well, and if there was a male in there videotaping her in the locker room, I would have issues.
'If it's my son and there's a female in the locker room videotaping, I have issues. Even if it was somebody of the same sex, I believe that this is an invasion of their privacy.'
Wolfe also claimed the LCPS investigator tried to pressure his son into a confession.
'They didn't show us the video until after they had tried to get my son to say who said what and all this kind of stuff,' Wolfe told ABC the outlet.
'But then once we saw the video, then we started asking about those context questions and how that can be left out. And they didn't really have a good answer for that.'
Renae Smith, the mother of one the boys, told ABC7: 'I don't even think the Title IX investigation is justified.'
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said earlier this month: 'It's deeply concerning to read reports of yet another incident in Loudoun County schools where members of the opposite sex are violating the privacy of students in locker rooms.
'Even more alarming, the victims of this violation are the ones being investigated - this is beyond belief.'
He asked Attorney General Jason Miyares to look into the situation.
Josh Hetzler, a lawyer hired to represent the three boys, told NBC4 that allegations of this kind could harm their prospects.
'These have a way of really stigmatizing them, especially when they're unfounded like this one,' he told the outlet.
The latest to break their silence on the matter is Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg.
'Enough is enough,' he said, addressing thousands of service attendees on Sunday.
He urged congregants to show support for the boys' families and attend school board hearings about the sexual harassment case.
LCPS previously told that allegations aired in the media are 'false', but said due to their ongoing investigation they could not clarify which points were incorrect.
'To be absolutely clear: Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) would not investigate or discipline students based on their personal opinions, thoughts, or beliefs, provided those expressions do not violate policies prohibiting hate speech, discriminatory language, threats, or other forms of harmful or disruptive conduct,' the school said in a statement.
'However, LCPS does investigate and may take disciplinary action when student behavior violates LCPS' Student Rights & Responsibilities Handbook for Families and Student Code of Conduct.
'Because this matter could result in discipline, LCPS will not discuss the specifics of the incident publicly.
'Student privacy is a fundamental right protected by both policy and law, and LCPS is firmly committed to upholding that principle without exception.
'Our decision not to comment on the matter should not be taken as license for any news organization to determine what the facts are without verification.'
LCPS's policy allows trans students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identities.
But a board member Deana Griffiths told ABC 7 changes must be made to the rules to ensure all children feel safe and protected in schools.
She said this problem stemmed from even creating an environment where biological males and females could share the same vulnerable spaces.
'What we are seeing and will continue to see, are the consequences of policies that have introduced confusion and conflict into spaces that were once clear and safe—especially for young children,' she wrote.
'The truth is, many of these issues would never have arisen if we had upheld the basic principle that boys and girls are biologically different.'
Miyares' office is investigating the Title IX case at Stone Bridge High School.
The U.S. Department of Education is also investigating LCPS and four other Virginia school districts for their policies allowing students to use private spaces based on identity not biological sex.
