Email Share 55 Shares

FAIRFAX, Va. — The Liberty Counsel on Dec. 21 filed a lawsuit that challenges the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the Fairfax County School District’s anti-discrimination policy.

The lawsuit — filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court — names Traditional Values Coalition President Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition and an unnamed minor as plaintiffs. The boy’s parents and two of their friends are also named in the complaint.

The Liberty Counsel alleges that members of the Fairfax County School Board violated Virginia law when they added the LGBT-specific protections to the district’s anti-discrimination in November 2014 and May 2015.

“It was the reckless, unlawful conduct of the school board that brought unnecessary legal costs upon the district,” said Liberty Counsel Chair Mat Staver in a press release that announced the lawsuit.

The anti-discrimination policy became an issue in this year’s school board election.

Dalia Palchik in November defeated Republican Patty Reed, who abstained from a vote on adding gender identity to the regulation. Elizabeth Schultz, who voted against the trans-inclusive measure, ran unopposed.

The Traditional Values Coalition endorsed both Reed and Schultz.