Loudoun County Public Schools have faced LGBT-related controversies before, but this time, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is directly involved. This case finds its roots in an ongoing incident that began in March.

Three boys from Stone Bridge High School — two Christians and one Muslim — were in the boys’ locker room when a biological female who identifies as male entered the space. In accordance with the district’s Policy 8040, which allows transgender-identifying students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their so-called “gender identity,” she was permitted to do so. Feeling uncomfortable, however, the boys expressed their objections, citing religious reasons. The transgender student then filmed them, alleging harassment. The school responded by launching a sexual-harassment investigation against the boys.

In the end, while the Muslim student was cleared of wrongdoing, the two Christian students were suspended for 10 days each and ordered to complete a “Comprehensive Student Support Plan” aligned with gender ideology. Represented by America First Legal (AFL) and the Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC), the families sued in the case now known as S.W. et al. v. Loudoun County School Board. In October, a Virginia judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the suspensions. And this is where the DOJ comes in.

On Monday, the department filed a motion to intervene in the federal lawsuit, now pending before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Lawyers from the Trump administration alleged that the “Loudoun County School Board … intentionally discriminated on the basis of religion in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The document itself contained the argument that the “motion is timely, as it is filed before briefing has been completed on Defendant’s pending motion to dismiss, which was filed on November 26, 2025. With the litigation at its very early stages, the United States’ participation would neither unduly delay the proceedings nor prejudice the existing parties’ rights.”

In a same-day statement, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division declared: “Policy 8040 requires all students, regardless of their religious beliefs, to adopt the Loudoun County School Board’s understanding of ‘gender identity’ — including its practical application that affects all students’ use of intimate spaces, such as bathrooms and changing facilities.” The department called this a “denial of equal protection based on religion.”

A supporting memorandum added: “From using preferred pronouns to sharing intimate spaces with students of the opposite sex, the School Board’s policy unconstitutionally directs Plaintiffs to go against their sincere religious beliefs and practice, which require using sex-aligned pronouns and using sex-segregated intimate spaces.” It concluded, “because discrimination on the basis of religion is abhorrent to a free society, the United States moves to intervene and protect its citizens.”

As DOJ Assistant Attorney General of the division Harmeet K. Dhillon further emphasized, “Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate. Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality.”

Conservative leaders and organizations have cheered the DOJ’s intervention. AFL President Gene Hamilton, for example, stated, “The Justice Department’s intervention underscores the seriousness of Loudoun County’s lawlessness. No school district has the authority to punish students for expressing concerns about privacy. The facts are clear, as is the law: ideology cannot override students’ rights.” FFLC President Victoria Cobb also released a statement welcoming “the Justice Department’s involvement in this case. Their intervention should send a strong and unmistakable signal to Loudoun County that ideology cannot continue to harm students.”

AFL Senior Counsel Ian Prior echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that “Loudoun County Public Schools has an unfortunate recent history of discriminating against students and teachers who speak out against its policy compelling the use of other students’ ‘preferred pronouns’ and allowing self-identified ‘gender expansive’ students to use the locker rooms and bathrooms of the opposite sex. We are pleased that the Justice Department is taking LCPS’s constitutional violations seriously, and we look forward to prosecuting this case alongside it.”

In a comment to The Washington Stand, Family Research Council’s Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty, remarked, “It’s great to see the DOJ defending the rights of Christian students to articulate their religiously-informed beliefs about gender ideology. It’s only right that the DOJ would defend the free speech and religious freedom rights of students.” And yet, she cautioned, “We shouldn’t take that for granted, because the last administration, under President Biden, not only didn’t defend these rights, but actively worked to undermine these rights.”

“Elections matter,” Del Turco concluded, “and smaller cases like this prove that.”