Virginia school board settles with parents, reverses policy that blocked LGBTQ+ student club

King George County Schools will now allow sixth- to eighth-grade students to form non-curricular clubs, including one supporting LGBTQ+ students, after the school board settled with the families of two students who said the school did not allow them to form the LGBTQ+ club previously, according to a Monday announcement. 

The school board faced litigation for allegedly blocking students from creating the organization last August, after community concerns surfaced that the proposed Gay-Straight Alliance club was not “age-appropriate” and would “not be a safe space, but a dangerous place,” the lawsuit read.

ACLU of Virginia lawsuit alleges King George School Board blocked LGBTQ+ student club

The settlement reverses the board’s decision to prohibit noncurricular groups at the middle school, including the proposed GSA, and to limit such groups to the high school.

In a statement, King George Schools said it updated its student organization policy, and parents must provide written permission before their child may attend meetings or join a student club or organization.

The ACLU of Virginia and the Potomac Law Group, representing the families of the two students, said their clients suffered irreparable harm from being unable to establish and participate in the GSA, which prompted them to file a lawsuit against the district’s alleged violations of the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act protections..

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

“It should not have taken a lawsuit for the King George County School Board to do the right thing,” ACLU-VA Staff Attorney Julia Kahn said in a statement. “The First Amendment and Equal Access Act protects all students, and school boards cannot pick and choose which clubs can form just because they don’t like what a club represents. This settlement benefits all students at King George Middle School by ensuring everyone is treated equally.”

The school division’s new student club regulation also requires a signed parental permission form as part of the application process for establishing a new non-curriculum student club or organization.

These changes, King George Public Schools said, demonstrate the school board’s commitment to family involvement, transparency, and direct communication between school leaders and parents. 

The school division said the guidelines were updated to balance its desire to offer students opportunities to “participate in student-initiated organizations” while establishing clear expectations that support student safety, positive conduct and a supportive school environment.

Across the country, advocates, including those from the Genders and Sexualities Alliance Network, are encouraging more groups to form to help LGBTQ+ youth and their allies become leaders and advocates for safer, more inclusive schools and communities.

The parents of the two students named in the suit said they are grateful their children can now participate in GSA clubs and are proud of their bravery in fighting for equal access to extracurricular activities. Still, they emphasized that students should not have had to fight for such rights in the first place.

“As parents, nothing matters more than our child’s wellbeing, safety, health, and education, and GSA clubs support all of these,” plaintiffs Teresa Catoe and John Wheeler, parents of the student identified in court documents as Z.J.W., said in a statement. 

“We are overjoyed that our child now has the opportunity to form a club that will make them excited to go to school, eager to participate, and determined to do their best. But it never should have fallen on our child’s shoulders to fight for the rights of students.”

Mary Rohmiller, a partner at Potomac Law Group, said the law is clear that schools must offer opportunities on equal terms to all students, but the King George County School Board singled out the GSA for exclusion. 

“School clubs are where students build community, discover who they are, and find the courage to thrive,” Rohmiller said. “These students were denied just that, not because of anything they did wrong, but simply because of who they are and what they believe. That kind of discrimination has no place in our schools.”

The legal team representing the students’ families said that if King George Middle School does not approve a proposal to form a GSA submitted under the new policy, they will refile the lawsuit.