Virginia parents raise more than $125,000 in just days to keep the locker room cause alive

First on Fox: Northern Virginia parents late Wednesday night skipped the massive $125,000 bail a judge ordered them to pay in order to remain in court and defend their sons, who were suspended and convicted of sexual harassment after objecting to a transgender colleague using a male-only locker room.

The parents, who are suing the Loudoun County Public School District, raised more than $125,000 before Friday’s deadline and even met the original Wednesday deadline before being granted an extension.

A federal judge last Friday ordered them to collect the money by the end of Wednesday if they wanted to continue fighting for their children in court. The judge in the case, Leonie Brinkema, ordered the bond to be set at $125,000, and said the money was intended to ensure the parents would be able to pay the school district’s attorney fees if they ended up losing.

“We have serious doubts that such a bond could be legally required, and this requirement that Plaintiffs put up money to pay government attorneys’ fees is certainly unusual and highly unexpected, especially when the government has admitted in court that its own insurance policy covers legal costs,” Josh Hetzler, a co-counsel for the parents, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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Before taking the case to federal court, Hetzler, Wolff and Smith sought other ways to ensure the two boys would not be suspended or marked as sexual predators on their permanent record. They sought to appeal the findings of an investigation into sexual harassment in Loudoun County Public Schools, which came after boys were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys’ locker room. The video showed them ostensibly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a girl using their facilities, which led to the boys being suspended and the district deciding to harass them.

However, the district ultimately denied the appeal, so the decision was made to take the matter to federal court with the help of the Trump-allied law group America First Legal (AFL).

Meanwhile, Judge Brinkema, for the Eastern District of Virginia, on Friday extended a temporary stay on the boys’ suspension so they can continue to attend class while the case is decided. But, at the same time, Brinkema also expressed “significant weaknesses in aspects of plaintiffs’ claims” in another ruling that same day, which ultimately required Wolf and Smith to raise $125,000 over the next three business days if they wanted to continue fighting the matter in court.

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“Fortunately, we have an extension until Friday,” said Ian Prior, an AFL lawyer assisting with the case, with the bond deadline looming on Wednesday and it appears they will not get the money.

According to Pryor, it is not entirely “unusual” for the prevailing party in a preliminary injunction to have to post bond. However, Pryor noted that in public interest cases like this one, bond requirements are often set too low, sometimes even at $0. Pryor also said he was not aware of the bonds required to cover attorney fees.

“In most cases, it’s when a company is required to do something, like sell a certain type of widget for example, and the injunction is going to cost them something,” Pryor told Fox News Digital. “The bond helps ensure that if the prevailing party is ultimately unsuccessful, the other party will be free from the effect of the injunction. However, we are not aware of a bond required to cover attorney’s fees.”

In Brinkema’s order, she explicitly noted that bail is intended to ensure “that if the defendant agrees to pretrial motions, he can recover his attorney’s fees from that bond.”

Wolfe and Smith, following the bond order, created an online fundraiser to help them raise money. As of Wednesday morning, the online fundraiser had raised about $50,000, but before the end of the day, a single $50,000 donation, from Michael Dearing, who appears to be an angel investor, pushed the parents to within $25,000 of their $125,000 goal.

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When asked what their plans were if they couldn’t raise the full amount, Pryor noted there were “many options” that could be taken.

“The more students raise, the easier it will be to pay the bonds, even if they don’t get the full $125,000,” Pryor told Fox News Digital. “To be clear, the case is not dismissed without posting bail – rather, we will lose the preliminary injunction, the suspension will take place immediately, and the results will be placed on the students’ records at the time they are likely to apply for higher education.”