Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the 2025 Republican gubernatorial nominee, tells Fox News a move this week by the Loudon County school board to continue support allowing transgender children to use facilities that do not necessarily match their biological sex "is absolutely unacceptable." (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Justice Department argues that the policy is in violation of Title IX, which is a half-century-old federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal funding.
Loudon County is one of five northern Virginia school districts that face the Friday deadline, along with Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Prince William County Public Schools, and Fairfax County Public Schools.
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The Justice Department charges that the school districts' policies, which give students the option to use school bathrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity and not their biological sex, violate Title IX.
Sears, pointing to the Republican sweep of statewide offices in Virginia elections four years ago, said that the school districts have "gone rogue and apparently, they have learned no lessons since 2021, when we first ran, and they must not understand that parents still matter."
Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee, addresses the crowd at a campaign event in Richmond, Virginia, on April 8, 2025. (Max Posner/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
But Sears charged that Spanberger, who is the polling frontrunner in November's election, is playing both sides of the issue.
"What she’s trying to do is have it both ways, because she has supported and voted for biological men in girls’ sports and bathrooms," as she pointed to a past vote in Congress by Spanberger.
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"I want parents to know—‘I’m in your corner,’" Sears told Fox News.
And she argued that "Abigail Spanberger won’t even step in the ring to fight for you."
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/virginia-school-districts-support-transgender-students-rights-governors-race-spotlight