Another transgender locker room controversy has rocked Northern Virginia, as three high school boys are under investigation by Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) for an alleged violation of Title IX. In March, the trio of young men was taken off guard when a girl professing to be a boy entered their locker room. The trans-identifying individual had access as a result of Loudoun’s Policy 8040, which permits any student to use bathrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities aligned with their purported “gender identity.”

While recording in locker rooms is a violation of school policy, the female student captured a video of the boys while they expressed their discomfort. In the video, one of the boys can be heard saying, “Why is there a girl? I’m so uncomfortable there is a girl.”

Seth Wolfe, the father of one the boys under investigation, told ABC 7News, “If it’s my son, and there’s a female in the locker room videotaping, I have issues.” However, in an email sent to Wolfe, an LCPS official excused the video taken by the girl by claiming the video doesn’t “violate his privacy in any way.”

The parents are not only alarmed by the invasion of privacy against their sons but also concerned that their children’s futures are being threatened. Renae Smith, the mother of one of the boys, told Nick Minock in an interview, “At the end of the day, my kid’s future is at stake. ... If this doesn’t go in his favor, which I couldn’t see how, it could affect his college admissions. They could look at that and think he is [a] terrible person. They don’t look at the context of the situation. They look at the disposition: sexual harassment. And it’s over for him. And that’s not him. He’s a sweet, kind boy. He’s such a gentleman.”

At the behest of Governor Glenn Younkin (R), Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) announced an investigation two weeks ago into LCPS to “investigate the school division’s conduct.” Younkin called the violation of students’ privacy in locker rooms “deeply concerning,” adding, “Even more alarming, the victims of this violation are the ones being investigated — this is beyond belief.”

Miyares added his thoughts on the matter, saying, “This is just the latest example of what happens when school boards disregard common sense. …The safety, dignity, and privacy of every student in Virginia should be non-negotiable.”

LCPS has refused to back down despite the public outrage. They even attempted to rationalize their actions in a statement, declaring, “LCPS will not engage in public discourse that misrepresents our policies or the facts of a student matter — especially when doing so compromises student privacy, safety and dignity.” The statement continued, “We reject any characterization that implies our schools are unsafe or that we fail to protect the rights of all students.”

As the legal battle has been waging, Josh Hetzler, legal counsel for Founding Freedoms Law Center and the Wolfes’ attorney, said, “This is yet another egregious example of how LCPS continues to defy state law on transgender policies as well as President Trump’s recent executive orders. This high school boy did absolutely nothing wrong, and LCPS needs to end this baseless investigation immediately.”

Support for the boys has not been limited to just politicians and parents. Church leaders have also advocated on behalf of the high schoolers. Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, leveraged his influence by supporting the boys’ stance and inviting them onto the stage during one of the church’s services this past Sunday.

Hamrick explained to ABC 7News, “When I informed people what Policy 8040 is all about in Loudoun County, which is that students can identify by whatever gender they choose, and on top of that, they can then use whatever bathrooms or locker rooms they want according to their preferred gender identity — and on top of that, parents cannot be notified by Loudoun County administrators or teachers, and that’s when people in our church just gasped, like, ‘What kind of a policy is this?’”

Hamrick said the congregation has rallied behind the young men. He explained that the audience “stood to their feet [and] applauded these young men when I brought them up on stage. It was just a great time to remind these young guys that, ‘Look, the community is behind you. We’re not behind this policy 8040,’ and we support their endeavor to have their names cleared.”

Pastor Hamrick further detailed the scene saying, “[O]n stage, I prayed for those boys and their parents and just asked the Lord to give them favor [so] that their names would be cleared from these erroneous charges of sexual harassment, and that policy 8040 would be overturned in Loudoun County.” Hamrick took the time to speak against members of the school board who have been championing the investigation against the high schoolers saying, “We can make a difference in our community if we exercise the wonderful privilege we have to vote.”

As Hamrick explained to 7News, “I don’t like to sit around and complain about things. I want to see change happen. So it’s one thing to say, ‘Hey, Policy 8040, that’s not a good policy,’ but if we just sit around and complain about it without actually changing the demographics of the school board, we’re going to forever just be yelling and screaming at the darkness and not really doing anything to turn on the light. So that’s my desire to see the school board either come to their senses over Policy 8040 or we vote them out and we replace them with people who will come to their senses and completely abolish Policy 8040.”