Virginia School Board Votes To Keep Transgender Policies, Defying Education Department Order
Washington Free Beacon6 days
Va. School Districts Risk Losing Federal Funding Over Trans Policies
Above: U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during a House Appropriations hearing in May 2025. Image copyright: Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Spin
Republican narrative
These school districts are blatantly violating federal law by prioritizing radical gender ideology over student safety and biology-based definitions. The Trump administration gave these districts every opportunity to comply with the law, but they stubbornly refused to provide safe environments for young women. So now they will face the consequences of the discrimination against women their political ideologies have caused.
Democratic narrative
These school districts are following established legal precedent from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Gavin Grimm case, which protects transgender students' rights to use facilities matching their gender identity. These policies align with current state and federal law, and changing them would actually put the districts in violation of binding court decisions and the Virginia Values Act.