LEESBURG, Va. (7News) — On Sunday, Cornerstone Chapel church in Leesburg, Virginia, rallied behind three young men being investigated by Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS).

7News was the first to report that LCPS was investigating the boys after a biologically female student, who students said identifies as a boy, entered the boys' locker room during gym class at Stone Bridge High School. 7News was also the first to report that the female student recorded the boys in the locker room, and the young men can be heard saying there was a girl in the locker room and that they were uncomfortable that there was a girl in the boys' locker room.

The boys are being investigated for sexual harassment under Title IX.

"When I had heard about these three young men who attended Stone Bridge High School had been accused of sexual harassment just because they questioned a female in the boys' locker room, I just felt compelled, as a pastor in the area, to bring our church together to support them and to show our support for their rights to be in a boys locker room without the invasion of privacy of a biological female," Cornerstone Chapel Senior Pastor Gary Hamrick told 7News in an interview Monday morning.

During Cornerstone's three services, Hamrick informed thousands of congregants about the situation and told them about a policy that the Loudoun County School Board passed in 2021 called Policy 8040 and Regulation 8040.

"Some in our congregation had not heard about Policy 8040, so when I informed people what Policy 8040 is all about in Loudoun County, which is that students can identify by whatever gender they choose, and on top of that, they can then use whatever bathrooms or locker rooms they want according to their preferred gender identity, and on top of that, parents cannot be notified by Loudoun County administrators or teachers, and that's when people in our church just gasped, like, 'what kind of a policy is this?" Hamrick told 7News. "And so when I mentioned how this policy has now been put into full force, and these three young men have been charged with sexual harassment because of violating Policy 8040, our congregation just rallied behind them. They stood to their feet. They applauded these young men when I brought them up on stage. It was just a great time to remind these young guys that, look, the community is behind you. We're not behind this policy 8040 and we support their endeavor to have their names cleared."

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Hamrick invited the three young men and their families to attend service on Sunday, and they did.

"Because we're a relatively large church in our community, whenever I hear things that I think are unjust in our community, I just love to rally our church behind a just cause, and even though these three young men have not attended our church, I contacted them and asked if they'd be willing to come, just so that we could show our support for them so they, along with either a mom or a dad, came, had them up on stage, our congregation applauded them, and then I had asked in advance if I could pray for them," Hamrick told 7News. "And so on stage, I prayed for those boys and their parents, and just asked the Lord to give them favor and that their names would be cleared from these erroneous charges of sexual harassment, and that policy 8040 would be overturned in Loudoun County."

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Hamrick encouraged his church to show up to the Loudoun County School Board meeting on Tuesday, May 20, and speak out against Policy 8040.

You can sign up here to speak if you are a Loudoun County resident. The deadline to register to speak is Tuesday, May 20, at noon.

"I hope people show up for the Loudoun County School Board meeting on Tuesday night, and I hope that the school board will hear the hearts of parents," said Hamrick. "Our community is outraged by this, and so the school board needs to overturn Policy 8040, they need to dismiss the charges against these boys. And so that's our hope, that we'll pack the place out, and we'll show by numbers that look, the voters and the parents of Loudoun County are not going to stand for these kind of policies that directly impact families over a policy, over an issue that has to do with gender identity. God created us with two biological sexes in the world, male and female, and when we try to mess with that, tamper with that, make policies that are contrary to that, then that's just foolishness."

Hamrick gave School Board Member Deana Griffiths credit for being the only school board member to stand up for the young men and against Policy 8040. Hamrick called out two school board members who have attended Cornerstone Chapel services but have not defended the boys and have not tried to repeal Policy 8040. Hamrick didn't mention the two school board members by name, but 7News has confirmed that school board members Kari LaBell and Lauren Shernoff have attended Cornerstone Chapel.

On Sunday, Hamrick said, "Vote them out."

"We can make a difference in our community if we exercise the wonderful privilege we have to vote," Hamrick told 7News. "So if we don't like what is happening on the school board level, we can either sit back and complain, or we can vote out the people and get new people in to those positions. So it's really that simple. I don't like to sit around and complain about things. I want to see change happen. So it's one thing to say, 'hey, Policy 8040, that's not a good policy', but if we just sit around and complain about it without actually changing the demographics of the school board, we're going to forever just be yelling and screaming at the darkness and not really doing anything to turn on the light. So that's my desire to see the school board either come to their senses over Policy 8040 or we vote them out and we replace them with people who will come to their senses and completely abolish Policy 8040."

RELATED | Locker room latest: Dad says family may leave Loudon County over Title IX investigation

Hamrick said he's not worried about any retribution the school board or their allies might try to take against his church.

"I'm not worried about any of that at all," Hamrick told 7News. "We didn't violate anything, any law. We didn't endorse any candidates. We just said you need to vote in and out people who best align with your values, whoever that might be. And we're just showing support for three young men who have been falsely charged with sexual harassment only because they asked a question, 'Why is there a female in the boys' locker room?'

Hamrick said he watched the video the female student recorded and noted that the female student started the recording before going into the boys' locker room.

"It came across when I heard that, almost like, is this a setup? Are they intentionally trying to entrap these young guys by having the video recording going in advance?" Hamrick asked. "So I was pretty shocked by the whole thing, and especially because no charges have been brought against her for, and you brought this up in your article, no charges have been brought against her for filming in the boy's locker room, and I don't know how she's gotten away with that. It's just outrageous their claim has more merit than her claim. Their claim that their privacy has been invaded should be upheld by the school board, and there should be some consequences for this female student who was in the boy's locker room, so I'm shocked, but, you know, this is apparently the world in which we live that's kind of a crazy chaos, and I think it's time to return to common sense."

Hamrick also mentioned to 7News that even though Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is in office, the Loudoun County School Board still has policies in place that allow students to use whatever bathroom and locker room they want at school based on gender identity and not biological sex.

"When Governor Younkin got elected to office, he kind of rode the whole stream of parent outrage because of different policies of Loudoun County Public Schools. It is not changed," Hamrick told 7News. "It is still the same outrage that parents rightfully should have when their rights are being restricted and their children now are being accused of violating policies that are erroneous policies. So I just think the climate hasn't changed since Governor Youngkin got elected. That's nothing against Governor Youngkin. I'm just saying Loudoun County is refusing to comply with President Trump's Title IX executive order. They are very belligerent about it, and so we are wanting to do something to make an impact to change the hearts and minds of the school board and our community for good."

7News has reached out to all nine Loudoun County School Board members multiple times over the past two weeks, asked questions, and offered interview opportunities to discuss Policy 8040 and the investigation into the young men.

Only school board member Griffiths responded.

“What we are seeing and will continue to see are the consequences of policies that have introduced confusion and conflict into spaces that were once clear and safe—especially for young children," said Griffiths. "The truth is, many of these issues would never have arisen if we had upheld the basic principle that boys and girls are biologically different. LCPS students deserve their own private, secure spaces, particularly in bathrooms and locker rooms. Recognizing biological differences isn’t discriminatory; it’s common sense, and it’s essential for protecting the dignity and safety of all children.”

After Hamrick called out other school board members for being silent, LaBell did an interview with 7News Reporter Nick Minock.

LaBell told 7News she is prohibited from discussing the Title IX investigation because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

"However, as a board member and Chairman of the school behavior and accountability committee, I hope that any parent that has a complaint about results of a behavior issue files for an appeal through the school system, particularly anything that also deals with the Title IX violation, because those violations are federal and are adjudicated by an independent federal Title IX committee," said LaBell.

LaBell added she believes there are two sexes, and she is opposed to biological males using female locker rooms and bathrooms, and she is opposed to biological females using male locker rooms and bathrooms at school.

"Are you interested in bringing that up during the school board meeting tomorrow to have the school board discuss it and take a vote on it?" Minock asked LaBell.

"No, I'm on the committee that actually has to decide that," said LaBell. "I think that we need to just as we decided at the committee meeting, wait for the Supreme Court's answer on that before it could even go to full committee, which would be in June. That'd be the first time we'd be able to get it through our committee, and that's at the end of June, the Supreme Court will be making the decision."

Right now, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office is investigating LCPS over this Title IX case and the U.S. Department of Education is investigating LCPS and four other northern Virginia school districts for possible violations related to bathroom and locker room policies that allow students to use locker rooms and bathrooms based on gender identity and not biological sex.

7News was the first to interview the parents of the three young men being investigated by LCPS. You can watch their interviews below:

• LCPS father speaks to 7News about the investigation into his son: Watch here
• Dad says family may leave Loudon County over Title IX investigation: Watch here
• LCPS mother Renae Smith speaks to 7News: Watch here

The Founding Freedoms Law Center is representing the families.