Legal Aid Groups Demand Virginia Schools Comply With Title IX, Supreme Court Decisions

America First Legal (AFL) and the Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC) sent a joint letter to all 132 Virginia school districts “to educate them about recent legal changes on matters affecting sex and ‘gender identity’ within public schools.”

AFL, a nonprofit law firm defending Americans’ constitutional rights, explained in a press release that schools have obligations to comply with Title IX and two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Mirabelli v. Bonta. Otherwise, “they could face significant legal and financial liability” for violating Title IX and the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The letter to the school districts, a seven-page legal memo, warned that not following B.P.J. and Mirabelli “could subject a school district to the loss of its federal Title IX funds, formal investigations by the federal Department of Education, and lawsuits by aggrieved students and parents, as well as the Department of Justice.”

B.P.J. was a landmark decision, handed down in June 2026, where the Court ruled that states are allowed to protect girls and women’s sports with laws separating sports based on biology.

AFL stated that Virginia schools are violating Title IX if they privilege boys who claim to be girls over female students:

In five Northern Virginia school districts, for example, girls who are uncomfortable sharing locker rooms and bathrooms with biological males are expected to find separate facilities. AFL’s letter explains that this is sex discrimination under Title IX and that in B.P.J., the Court made clear that under Title IX, “sex” refers to biological sex, not “gender identity.”

It’s not just girls who want to keep sex-segregated facilities. Boys want their privacy, too. Title IX and the decision in B.P.J. protect them from unwanted invasion of their private spaces by girls who claim to be boys.

Districts had been relying on a 2020 court case, Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, to allow students access to facilities based on their self-proclaimed “gender identity,” rather than on their sex. Gavin Grimm was a female student who “identified” as male and was denied access to boys-only facilities. The United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said this violated Grimm’s equal protection and Title IX rights.

However, as the legal memo explained, Grimm has been overruled by the Supreme Court’s sensible decision in B.P.J.:

Now, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in B.P.J., Grimm is no longer viable authority.

FFLC is the legal arm of The Family Foundation, a Focus on the Family ally that works on behalf of life, marriage, parental rights, free speech and religious freedom. The organization noted that the Court’s rulings “fundamentally altered the legal landscape” for school districts.

Mirabelli v. Bonta was an important victory for parents, with the Court ruling against California policies requiring schools to hide information about a child’s sexual identity confusion. The Court said parents were likely to succeed in their challenge to state policies which “cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.”

As a result, as FFLC President Victoria Cobb stated in a press release announcing the letter, “Virginia school boards no longer have any legal excuse for policies that put politics ahead of the law and ignore students’ and parents’ rights.”

AFL and FFLC’s memorandum explained that schools will face consequences for ignoring Mirabelli:

School districts that maintain policies allowing staff to facilitate a student’s social transition without notification to and consent of his or her parents can face liability pursuant to the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

The letter “summarizes the governing law, explains why many existing policies should be reevaluated, and identifies steps your school division should take now to reduce legal exposure.”

Among other demands, the memorandum called on school boards to:

• Review all policies governing athletics, locker rooms, restrooms and overnight accommodations to ensure eligibility is based on biological sex.

• Rescind any policy allowing staff to facilitate a student’s social transition without parental notice or consent.

• Remove references to Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board as authority supporting “gender-identity”-based access to sex-separated facilities.

• Consult legal counsel regarding potential conflicts with recent case law.

• Assess pending litigation risk and revise policies before they become the subject of administrative complaints or federal lawsuits.

Both AFL and FFLC concluded their letter with a warning:

Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal will continue to monitor Virginia school divisions’ compliance and are prepared to represent parents and students whose rights have been violated by unlawful policies or practices.

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