YORK COUNTY — A York County judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia against the Virginia Department of Education’s model policies for transgender students, according to a post from Attorney General Jason Miyares on the social platform X.
“Today, a Virginia court dismissed a challenge to Gov. (Glenn) Youngkin’s Department of Education’s model policies,” said. “I’m pleased with the court’s ruling and proud to secure this win.”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia, York Circuit Court granted the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE)’s pleas in bar and dismissed the lawsuit, ruling the case is barred by the legal doctrine of sovereign immunity and by the statute of limitations, preventing the case from proceeding.
In February, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia announced that it and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, LLP filed two separate lawsuits on behalf of two transgender students in the counties of Hanover and York.
“If the state discriminates against you or your child, you should be able to do something about it. Unfortunately, the court’s ruling today means that our client will not have that right,” ACLU of Virginia Senior Transgender Attorney Wyatt Rolla and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP Partner Andrew Ewalt said in a joint statement. “We’re hopeful other courts will protect Virginians’ access to justice when they consider the same issue on behalf of other transgender students whose school districts relied on VDOE’s dangerous policies to discriminate against them.”
Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration introduced the first model policies for transgender students to provide school officials with guidance on the treatment of transgender and nonbinary students and to protect the privacy and rights of the students, though some schools initially declined to adopt the model policies, and the state law that led to them lacked enforcement incentives or penalties.
The Youngkin administration revised the policies to require parental approval for any changes to students’ “names, nicknames, and/or pronouns,” direct schools to keep parents “informed about their children’s well-being” and require that student participation in activities and athletics and use of bathrooms be based on sex, “except to the extent that federal law otherwise requires.
After some schools chose not to adopt the model policies, Attorney General Miyares concluded last year that model policies comply with federal and state anti-discrimination laws and that school boards must adopt policies in line with them.
“Thank you Attorney General Jason Miyares for your work defeating a challenge to the VDOE Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools,” Youngkin said in a post on the social platform X.
