Amid Pride Month, feds investigate school bathroom use by NC trans students
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- Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX probes into two NC districts in June.
- Federal probes target Buncombe and Cabarrus school districts over bathroom policies.
- The Trump administration reversed the Biden expansion of Title IX protections.
The Trump administration has singled out two Western North Carolina school districts as part of a nationwide push during Pride Month targeting schools over their bathroom policies for transgender students.
Buncombe County and Cabarrus County are among 13 school districts across the country in June that have had federal Title IX investigations opened against them or received warning letters. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is accusing the districts of potentially violating the civil rights of female students by allowing transgender students to use the school bathroom and locker facilities that match their gender identity.
“The practice of allowing students to access sex-separated programs and facilities based solely on self-asserted ‘gender identity’ is deeply troubling and raises significant legal concerns,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a news release Tuesday. “Fifty-four years after Title IX was signed into law, the Trump Administration remains steadfast to enforce its promise to protect women and girls. We will fully investigate these allegations and take appropriate action to ensure compliance with federal law.”
Tuesday was the 54th anniversary of the signing of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and educational programs that receive federal funding. President Donald Trump reversed the Biden administration’s expansion of Title IX protections to transgender students.
“The promise of Title IX has been obstructed by an administration that has shown it does not care about women and girls.” Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, said in a news release Tuesday. “Instead, it aims to distort the law, including Title IX, to attack and exclude trans students.”
NC schools follow Grimm transgender ruling
North Carolina school districts that permit transgender students to use their preferred school restroom have cited the 2020 ruling by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Gavin Grimm case in Virginia. The appellate judges ruled that policies requiring transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding only with their sex assigned at birth violate Title IX and constitutional protections.
”For more than five years, legal precedent in North Carolina has required public schools to allow all young people access to the restroom that aligns with their gender identity,” the Campaign for Southern Equality said in a statement. “The Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board case was decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, and their decision was allowed to stand by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021, making the ruling binding across the circuit (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia).”
Buncombe County Schools incorporated the ruling into its gender support guidelines.
“Buncombe County Schools is following the law and treating transgender students with the respect and dignity that all students deserve,” the Campaign for Southern Equality said in its statement.
Values Coalition lobbying for new state bathroom law
But the N.C. Values Coalition says it’s hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down the Grimm case when it issues a ruling on a 2021 West Virginia law that bars transgender female athletes from participating in girls’ school sports teams. A ruling could come out any day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in January.
Ashley Vaughan, a spokesperson for the N.C. Values Coalition, said they’ve heard complaints from female students across the state about being required to use the same school restrooms and locker rooms as “biological males.”
“We are glad to hear that the federal government is looking into these cases,” Vaughan said in an interview Tuesday.
The Values Coalition has been urging state lawmakers to put new restrictions on public bathroom use by transgender people, The News & Observer previously reported. Any potential new law would come a decade after the passage and repeal of House Bill 2.
“We are still hopeful that the General Assembly will take action on this piece to protect our daughters, because, as I said, this is happening across our state, and every single day,” Vaughan said. “Boys are going into the girls’ bathrooms and putting them at risk.”
Rebranding Pride Month
The multiple investigations involving transgender students launched this month is occurring in what the Trump administration is calling “Title IX Month.”
Across the nation, some Republican governors have been rebranding Pride Month, the Associated Press reported. This includes calling June “Nuclear Family Month” in Indiana and Tennessee, “Strong Families Month” in Alabama and “Fidelity Month” in Utah and Arkansas.
In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein is still proclaiming June as “LGBTQ+ Pride Month.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 4:40 PM.
