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Freshfields and ACLU of Virginia file two suits on behalf of transgender students
Freshfields and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia filed two separate lawsuits today against the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) on behalf of two transgender students challenging the department’s 2023 Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools.
The lawsuits filed by ACLU of Virginia and Freshfields call on York and Hanover County Circuit Courts to vacate VDOE’s 2023 Model Policies. Replacing an earlier evidence-based version that provided guidance to local school boards about how to ensure safe and equitable treatment of transgender and nonbinary students in Virginia public schools, the 2023 Model Policies discriminate against transgender students on matters such as name and pronoun usage, facilities access, and participation in sex-segregated activities. Additionally, the new policies no longer recognize LGBTQ+ students as a protected class and focus on the rights of parents rather than students.
"When you look at the ways that VDOE’s model policies are hurting transgender and nonbinary students like our clients, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that their authors were purposefully trying to erase gender-nonconforming students from the classroom,” said Andrew Ewalt, co-counsel and partner at Freshfields. “That flouts both existing nondiscrimination law and the Virginia law that directed VDOE to develop model policies in the first place.”
The Freshfields pro bono legal team includes partners Andrew Ewalt and Meghan Rissmiller, counsel Jennifer Loeb, associates Ben Zweifach, Ross Svenson, LB McCaskey, Lina Bader and Aiko Van Denhouwe.
Learn more about the case here.
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