Virginia School Board Reverses Ban on Gay-Straight Alliance After Students Sue
Students sued after the GSA they started wasn’t allowed to form after it had been approved.
The King George County School Board in Virginia unanimously approved changes to its policies on extracurricular clubs in middle school, reversing a policy that restricted clubs in middle school after a couple of students wanted to organize a gay-straight alliance. It comes after a settlement was announced after students sued over the policy.
The board voted earlier this month to allow middle schoolers to organize and conduct meetings of noncurricular groups, according to the Fredericksburg Free Press.
Under the new policy adopted at the meeting, students must now have written permission to join extracurricular clubs.
The new policy takes out restrictions to those students that were adopted in November of last year after students attempted to create a gay-straight alliance and had the plan approved before a conservative backlash resulted in the school board intervening. Two students recently sued through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia and the Potomac Law Group that filed a lawsuit against the school and the board.
The suit alleged that when students were in the process of creating the GSA for the 2025-2026 school year, the King George County School Board attempted to block it by making it more difficult to form clubs. The ACLU of Virginia sent a letter to the board at the time warning that such a move would violate federal law. Instead of allowing the club to form, the board banned all “noncurricular organizations.”
However, the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that the clubs had been able to form, including one for outdoor activities that has students “making fishing lures and skinning squirrels,” according to a press release from the ACLU of Virginia.
“King George County Schools cannot move the goalposts to prevent an organization that promotes respect and equality for LGBTQ+ students from existing just because school board members disagree with its message,” said ACLU-VA Staff Attorney Julia Kahn at the time. “The First Amendment and Equal Access Act protect all students, and the school board cannot pick and choose who the rules apply to. Why this club, and not others?”
The board did not publicly mention the suit in its recent meeting where it voted. A week before the September 11 meeting, a federal judge announced a settlement had been reached in the suit.
“Having been advised that the parties have reached a settlement,” U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne wrote in a September 4 order, according to The Advocate, “any further discovery deadlines are stayed until further order of this Court.”
The order did not detail the settlement’s terms.
In a statement that announced the policy changes, the board said the revised rules showed it was “emphasizing family involvement, prioritizing transparency, and fostering direct communication between school and home,” the Fredericksburg Free Press reports.
