Virginia

Loudoun supervisor demands report on boy charged with assault in girl’s bathroom

Controversy over false reports that student was ‘gender fluid’ continues

Published

4 years ago

February 1, 2022

Two sexual assaults by the same teen in Loudoun County schools attracted widespread media attention. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A member of the Loudoun County, Va., Board of Supervisors has threatened to call for the withholding of funds from the county’s school system unless school officials release a report they hired a law firm to prepare as part of an investigation into the school system’s handling of two sexual assaults committed by a 15-year-old boy who was incorrectly identified as “gender fluid.”

When reports surfaced last October that the boy allegedly committed one of the two assaults in the girl’s bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Va., in May 2021 while wearing a skirt, the revelation triggered a furious backlash against Virginia’s statewide transgender school policy that had been adopted by Loudoun County.

The policy, which is based on LGBTQ nondiscrimination legislation passed by the Virginia General Assembly, allows transgender and gender fluid students to use the bathroom and other school facilities that conform to their gender identity.

Loudoun school officials apologized for their handling of the two sexual assault incidents and commissioned an independent investigation by a law firm after news surfaced that they transferred the boy to another high school after he was charged in the first sexual assault without alerting the other school of the charges pending against him. The boy was charged with sexually assaulting another girl in a vacant classroom on Oct. 6, 2021, at Broad Run High School, also in Ashburn.

Loudoun school officials have declined to release the report conducted by the law firm Blankingship & Keith, saying to do so would violate attorney-client privilege and would release information about individuals involved in the sexual assault cases. The identity of the 15-year-old boy charged in the two cases and the two girls he allegedly assaulted have been withheld because they are considered juveniles under Virginia law.

But Loudoun County Supervisor Caleb Kershner, who is an attorney whose law firm represented the 15-year-old boy when his case came before a juvenile court judge last year and in January of this year, has demanded that the report be released.

He told WTOP News that in an upcoming joint meeting in February of the Board of Supervisors and the Loudoun County School Board, he would raise the issue of withholding school funding unless school officials release the report.

“Loudoun County Public Schools needs to keep our students safe, and parents need assurances that the mistake made by the LCPS and by the Commonwealth’s Attorney will never occur again,” he told WTOP. He was referring to concerns raised that the Commonwealth’s Attorney, who serves as the county prosecutor, also mishandled the case involving the teenager.

“The Board of Supervisors will be starting our budget process with LCPS this month, and I will be asking LCPS to release their independent sexual assault report as a condition of funding,” WTOP quoted him as saying.

In a little-noticed article last November, the British publication DailyMail.com published an interview with the 15-year-old boy’s mother, who said her son identifies as heterosexual and as a male, not as gender fluid or transgender.

LGBTQ activists have said the backlash against both the Virginia and Loudoun County transgender non-discrimination policies was fueled by what they have said all along was unsubstantiated claims that the boy was transgender or gender fluid.

His mother told DailyMail.com that her son occasionally wore a skirt “because it gave him attention he desperately needed and sought,” but he wore jeans and male clothes most of the time. She pointed out that law enforcement authorities disclosed that her son and the girl he was charged with assaulting in the school’s girl’s bathroom had consenting sex in the bathroom twice before the alleged assault.

Kershner’s call for the release of the school report on the two sexual assault incidents came three days before Loudoun County Juvenile Court Chief Judge Pamela Brooks reversed an earlier decision to place the 15-year-old boy on the Virginia sex offender registry for life.

WTOP News reports that the judge’s reversal of her earlier order placing the boy on the sex offender registry came in response to arguments by Kershner and members of Kirshner’s own law firm representing the boy at a Jan. 27 hearing. The lawyers argued that a sex offender registry designation should be limited to adults rather than a juvenile and would be harmful to the juvenile justice system’s objective of rehabilitation for juvenile offenders.

Brooks left in place her earlier decision on Jan. 12 to sentence the boy to supervised probation in a locked juvenile rehabilitation center until his 18th birthday, WTOP News reported.

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Virginia

Repealing marriage amendment among Va. House Democrats’ 2026 legislative priorities

Voters approved Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006

Published

2 weeks ago

November 18, 2025

Staff reports

(Bigstock photo)

Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday announced passage of a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is among their 2026 legislative priorities.

State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) has introduced the resolution in the chamber. State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) is the sponsor of an identical proposal in the state Senate.

Both men are gay.

Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again this year.

Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot.

Democrats on Election Day increased their majority in the House of Delegates. Their three statewide candidates — Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi, and Attorney General-elect Jay Jones — will take office in January.

“Virginians elected the largest House Democratic Majority in nearly four decades because they trust us to fight for them and deliver real results,” said House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) on Monday in a press release that announced his party’s legislative priorities. “These first bills honor that trust. Our agenda is focused on lowering costs, lifting wages, expanding opportunity, protecting Virginians rights, and ensuring fair representation as Donald Trump pushes Republican legislatures across the country to manipulate congressional maps for partisan gain. House Democrats are ready to meet this moment and deliver the progress Virginians expect.”

Virginia

Ghazala Hashmi names Equality Virginia executive director to transition team

Narissa Rahaman will join Adam Ebbin, Mark Sickles on LG-elect’s committee.

Published

3 weeks ago

November 11, 2025

Staff reports

Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi (YouTube screenshot)

Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi has named Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman to her transition team.

State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) are among those who Hashmi also named to her Transition Committee.

“I am honored to have this diverse group of leaders join our transition,” said Hashmi in a statement. “Their experience, perspective, and commitment to public service will help build an Office of the Lieutenant Governor that is responsive, innovative, and relentlessly focused on improving the lives of every Virginia resident.”

“Together, we will develop a thoughtful roadmap for the work ahead — one that ensures we are engaging communities, strengthening partnerships across the state, and preparing this office to serve with purpose and conviction from Day One,” she added. “I am grateful to each member for bringing time, expertise, and passion to this effort.”

Hashmi, a Democrat, defeated Republican John Reid, who is openly gay, on Nov. 4.

Hashmi will succeed outgoing Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Jan. 17.

Virginia

Democrats increase majority in Va. House of Delegates

Tuesday was Election Day in state.

Published

3 weeks ago

November 5, 2025

Staff reports

Virginia Capitol (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Democrats on Tuesday increased their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.

The Associated Press notes the party now has 61 seats in the chamber. Democrats before Election Day had a 51-48 majority in the House.

All six openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual candidates — state Dels. Rozia Henson (D-Prince William County), Laura Jane Cohen (D-Fairfax County), Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg), Marcia Price (D-Newport News), Adele McClure (D-Arlington County), and Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) — won re-election.

Lindsey Dougherty, a bisexual Democrat, defeated state Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield County) in House District 75 that includes portions of Chesterfield and Prince George Counties. (Attorney General-elect Jay Jones in 2022 texted Coyner about a scenario in which he shot former House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.)

Other notable election results include Democrat John McAuliff defeating state Del. Geary Higgins (R-Loudoun County) in House District 30. Former state Del. Elizabeth Guzmán beat state Del. Ian Lovejoy (R-Prince William County) in House District 22.

Democrats increased their majority in the House on the same night they won all three statewide offices: governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Narissa Rahaman is the executive director of Equality Virginia Advocates, the advocacy branch of Equality Virginia, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, last week noted the election results will determine the future of LGBTQ rights, reproductive freedom, and voting rights in the state.

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

The General Assembly earlier this year approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment that defines marriage in the state constitution as between a man and a woman. The resolution must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.

Shreya Jyotishi contributed to this article.