Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia has waved the white flag in a federal lawsuit after trying – and failing – repeatedly to convince a judge that telling a girl to “just go somewhere else” if she didn’t want a boy in the girls’ restroom was totally fine.

Spoiler: it wasn’t.

After months of procedural gymnastics that would put Cirque du Soleil to shame, the school board finally conceded that the girl had First Amendment rights and they couldn’t punish her for complaining about their rules. America First Legal (AFL) secured judgment for the student, nominal damages, and attorneys’ fees.

This ruling doesn’t just vindicate the female student plaintiff. It sends a clear, judicially embossed message straight to school administrators nationwide: stop treating girls’ privacy as optional fine print in your ideological handbook. The Constitution doesn’t vanish in a puff of gender-theory smoke the moment students walked into the building.

Fairfax officials insisted that if the girl was uncomfortable sharing a restroom with a boy, she needed to relocate, not the boy. But the judgment confirms what most parents and 100% of sane people already know: safety and privacy aren’t negotiable. Unfortunately, the school is still allowing students to use facilities matching their gender “identity” but at least they aren’t punishing students who are complaining about it.

“Our client’s rights were violated, and today she has justice,” said Gene Hamilton, AFL’s president, dropping the legal equivalent of a mic. Senior Counsel Ian Prior added that no student should be punished for asserting basic constitutional rights.

For now, chalk this up as a win for common sense and free speech – but more still needs to be done to consider it a win for student safety and privacy. Boys shouldn’t be allowed in girls’ bathrooms. Full stop.