Amid growing outcry over Loudoun County Public Schools’ (LCPS) handling of a locker room incident at Stone Bridge High School, Del. Mark Earley Jr. (R–Midlothian) voiced strong support for Attorney General Jason Miyares’ decision to refer the case to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education.
The controversy centers on two male students suspended after expressing discomfort when a biologically female transgender student allegedly filmed them while they were changing in the boys’ locker room.
LCPS concluded the boys had committed “sex-based discrimination,” a determination Miyares called evidence of Title IX violations, unlawful retaliation and viewpoint discrimination.
Earley, a Stone Bridge graduate, called the situation “stranger than fiction” and indicative of deeper institutional problems.
“The situation in Loudoun County, specifically at Stone Bridge (where I graduated from), has reached the point of being stranger than fiction,” Earley told the Gateway Reporter. “It’s beyond absurd. It shows not only the far-left’s commitment to a false and radical ideology, but how this commitment has become institutionalized in many of our school systems. This situation is completely upside down, Orwellian—they’re punishing the students who simply state the obvious reality.”
“They have not only gone too far, but they’re completely on the wrong track. Ideology has overtaken common sense,” he said.
Earley’s comments echo that of a recent announcement from Miyares’ office.
“No one should be punished for believing what is taught in biology class,” Miyares said in a press release.
Miyares described the suspensions as instances of viewpoint discrimination and unlawful retaliation.
“In the spring, Loudoun County Public Schools weaponized Title IX to punish male students for expressing discomfort at being forced to share a locker room with a female student who was filming them. Following those reports, Governor Youngkin asked my Office to investigate the facts,” he said.
He stated that an investigation revealed serious concerns, including Title IX violations, unlawful retaliation and viewpoint discrimination.
“All tied back to Loudoun County Public Schools’ habitual misuse of authority and disregard for the law. In June, my Office referred the matter to the U.S.,” Miyares said.
Miyares emphasized that his office is actively monitoring the situation and considering legal action to ensure student rights are protected.
“Let me be clear: We aren’t going to let this go,” Miyares said. “This will not be slid under the carpet. The safety, dignity, and privacy of every student in Virginia should be non-negotiable. What Loudoun did was wrong, but it is never too late to do the right thing. I implore LCPS to do so.”
The incident at Stone Bridge High School has sparked national attention.
The debate has intensified after the Loudoun County School Board voted 6-3 to defy the U.S. Department of Education and retain its current transgender bathroom and locker room policies, despite federal warnings that the decision could jeopardize funding.
Meanwhile, Earley is advocating for policies rooted in biological distinctions and parental authority.
“Every school district should get back to common sense—that means having policies that recognize the biological reality that boys and girls are different and distinct and have separate bathrooms and locker rooms,” he said. “The definition of male and female should be based on biological reality and nothing else.”
He clarified that his position is not about punishing students who experience gender dysphoria, but rather about resisting policies he deems harmful to the community at large.
“I advocate being kind and compassionate to everyone, including those struggling with gender dysphoria—but changing policies to indulge & encourage confusion is actually the opposite of kindness and compassion,” Earley said. “We need to re-prioritize common sense, biological reality, and parental rights; we need to deprioritize the current commitment to radical, false, far-left ideologies.”
Earley argued that the Virginia General Assembly has both the authority and the responsibility to act.
“I think the General Assembly needs to stand up to empower parents and protect students,” he said. “Generally speaking, I believe power should reside at the lowest, most local level possible—but sadly many of these school boards are proving they are not worthy of such power, and if they do not return to common sense, I believe the General Assembly needs to step up to protect student, empower parents, and instill common sense.”
Earley is in a high-stakes re-election battle in Chesterfield’s competitive 73rd District, a key target for Democrats aiming to retain control of Virginia’s House of Delegates. He’s doubling down on a conservative platform focused on lowering taxes, strengthening public safety, reforming education and opposing “radical gender ideology” in schools.
Drawing sharp contrasts with Democratic challenger Leslie Mehta, Earley is emphasizing parental rights, girls’ sports protections and local control over zoning. He says his campaign is grounded in community engagement and “common-sense conservative” leadership.
Earley’s remarks underscore mounting frustration with LCPS, which has become a national flashpoint for controversy over its handling of gender identity policies, school discipline, and ideological curricula.
This latest locker room incident is not isolated. Among the most serious of LCPS’s scandals was a 2022 case involving a biological male student who was found guilty of sexually assaulting two female students in separate incidents within six months. Around the same time, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office was investigating multiple alleged sexual assaults at a local middle school.
The district also sparked backlash for a teacher training that called for the “dismantling of white dominant culture,” followed by the quiet rebranding of its “Culturally Responsive Framework” to the more marketable “Culturally Responsive Instruction and Practices”—a move critics called a thinly veiled continuation of divisive ideology.
Meanwhile, LCPS libraries came under fire for stocking graphic books such as All Boys Aren’t Blue, a memoir labeled “gay incest porn” by opponents, reportedly available in 70% of district high schools.
These issues have made their way to debate regarding the governership. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is currently Virginia’s lieutenant governor, has made transgender policies in schools a central theme of her gubernatorial campaign, drawing a sharp contrast with Democratic opponent Abigail Spanberger.
A recent campaign ad posted to social media with a post reading, “Think Spanberger’s a centrist? Think again. She’s all-in on boys in girls’ sports and men in women’s locker rooms.”
The one-minute video features provocative imagery, including a clip of a biologically male transgender basketball player knocking down a female athlete during a game, underscoring concerns about fairness and safety in women’s sports.
The ad quotes from a news reporter who said Spanberger’s campaign refused to answer questions about her stance on whether biological males should be allowed to compete in women’s sports or use sex-segregated facilities.
“I asked Abigail Spanberger’s campaign if she would weigh in on the bathroom locker room issue and does she support biological males competing in women’s sports?” the news reporter is heard saying in the ad. “They didn’t answer those questions.”
The ad concludes, “she is for little boys playing in girl sports and for men being in women’s locker rooms. So she’s not exactly a centrist.”
Earle-Sears has condemned Spanberger’s silence on the issue.“If she cared about Virginia’s parents or daughters, she’d reject this insanity and the extremists endangering our kids,” Earle-Sears said on X.
Meanwhile, a sign displayed at an Arlington school board meeting targeting Earle-Sears drew swift bipartisan condemnation for making a Jim Crow-era comparison between opposition to transgender bathroom access and racial segregation.
“Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom then blacks can’t shair my water fountain,” the sign read.
Earle-Sears called the sign “disgusting” and accused her opponents of fostering a divisive political climate.
