Loudoun County Punishes Christian Boys While Exonerating Muslim
INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER SETH WOLFE
PHOTO CREDIT SETH WOLFE AND DAILY SIGNAL
ASHBURN, Va.-The father of a high school boy punished by the school district for expressing shock at seeing a girl in the boys' locker room says he would take his son's case to the Supreme Court, if necessary, as his lawyer says the case illustrates "blatant religious discrimination."
"Are you in this for the long haul? If it ends up having to be a lawsuit, if you end up having to appeal, you'd go all the way to the Supreme Court?" The Daily Signal asked Seth Wolfe, the punished boy's father, in an interview at Stone Bridge High School Wednesday.
"Yes," he replied. "I think as a father, that is a father's duty, and we need men and women to stand up for our children."
Wolfe had spoken during a press conference at the school organized by the Family Foundation of Virginia. The Founding Freedoms Law Center, the Family Foundation's legal arm, is representing his son, who is one of three boys who shared their surprise at seeing a girl in the boys' locker room at Stone Bridge.
The girl, who identifies as a boy, had filmed the encounter, even though that violates Loudoun County Public Schools' privacy policy. The school system did not investigate her, but instead brought claims against the boys under Title IX, a federal law banning discrimination on the basis of sex.
Religious Discrimination?
Loudon County Public Schools later dropped the claims against one boy, who is Muslim, while not only keeping the original charge but adding another against the two other boys, who are Christian.
"We think it's blatant religious discrimination," Josh Hetzler, the boys' lawyer, told The Daily Signal in an interview before the press conference.
While the school system brought "identical facts" against all three boys, it eventually dropped the case against the Muslim boy. While the district "didn't say Muslim," Hetzler said "that was the only difference we could find."
While the lawyer said exonerating the Muslim boy "was the right thing," he faulted Loudon County Public Schools for keeping the cases against the two Christian boys.