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Fairfax County Public Schools is confronting a legal and financial dilemma after the Virginia High School League moved to bar transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports.
The VHSL executive committee approved the policy change on Monday, Feb. 10, following an executive order from President Donald Trump directing federal agencies to withhold funding from educational and athletic institutions that allow transgender girls and women to participate in female sports.
The Trump administration maintains that the order is consistent with Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education. The administration defines sex as assigned “at conception” and limited to a male-female binary.
Opponents argue that the order deprives transgender students of opportunities, conflicts with anti-discrimination protections adopted by states, athletic organizations and school systems, and could trigger an extended court battle.
FCPS said it is waiting for the league’s official guidance before deciding how to respond.
“We will review the revised VHSL policies once they are available,” an FCPS spokesperson said by email.
The school system has long supported protections for transgender and gender-expansive students. The Fairfax County School Board added gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy in 2015. In 2020, it adopted regulations protecting gender-nonconforming students’ ability to be identified and use accommodations according to their gender identity.
FCPS generally follows VHSL rules unless they conflict with the law. The legality of the new policy remains unsettled, however. Two transgender girls from New Hampshire have already sued to block Trump’s executive order, alleging that it violates federal protections for transgender students.
FCPS Pride, an LGBTQ advocacy organization comprising school employees, parents and community members, condemned the league’s decision.
Board member Robert Rigby said the VHSL had “abandoned its values” and called on FCPS and other Virginia school divisions to maintain their commitments to inclusion and nondiscrimination.
“If VHSL cannot see its way to resuming inclusive policies, the school divisions that are inclusive will have to leave VHSL and form our own league,” Rigby said.
The VHSL oversees athletics and other competitions involving 300 schools and approximately 175,000 student-athletes across Virginia. Since 2014, it has permitted transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identity through a multi-step eligibility review.
Under that policy, students must demonstrate a consistent gender identity differing from the sex listed on their birth certificate or school records. A district-level committee reviews supporting documentation, which can include statements from parents, teachers or medical professionals. Students denied eligibility may appeal to the VHSL Executive Committee, while principals must certify that a student’s gender identity is genuine and was not asserted to gain a competitive advantage.
The league retained that process even after the Virginia Department of Education issued guidance in 2023 stating that participation in athletics should be based on sex assigned at birth.
As recently as Friday, Feb. 7, the VHSL said its existing transgender-athlete policy would remain in effect. That same day, Gov. Glenn Youngkin urged the league on social media to “change course,” warning that Virginia schools could risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding if the VHSL did not comply with Trump’s order.