DOE Secretary Linda McMahon: Trans Bathroom Policies Within Va. Schools Violate Title IX

The U.S. Department of Education has found that five school districts in North Virginia have violated President Donald Trump’s executive order to end "Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling."

Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Prince William County Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, and Loudoun County Public Schools are allowing students to pick which bathroom they want to use based on their gender identity of choice. While this is problematic from a practical standpoint, DOE Secretary Linda McMahon said this goes against the executive order.

"We found that they were in violation," McMahon told 7News in Arlington.

McMahon said that allowing this freedom of choice is putting kids of all ages and both genders in situations they don’t belong in.

"And it's just also making girls feel vulnerable," McMahon said. "They don't want to sit there and have boys watch them undress, or to have boys undress in front of them. And these are high schools that we're talking about. So these are really young men and women in these locker rooms. And so we feel that they have to change that policy."

Linda McMahon, US education secretary, during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

McMahon said that her department is not going to take these matters lightly, and that she has a strict message for the schools that aren’t obeying the executive order at the moment.

"Obey the law," said McMahon. "Title IX is the law. I mean, it was just recently the Biden administration's interpretation of Title IX was overturned. So it is back to its original interpretation, which is identification of women and men and the basis of biological sex. And I think we need to identify what we mean by sex. It's male and female period."

What the consequences will be for these schools is uncertain, but McMahon and her department mean business. Those school districts would be wise to heed the warning.