Moms for Liberty backs girl fighting for girls’ bathroom privacy

Girls in New Richmond, Wisconsin, should not have to share their restrooms with boys, and Moms for Liberty is right to stand behind the high school junior who is fighting her school board over it. Moms for Liberty posted on X on Oct. 15 that moms across the country are praying a hedge of protection over young Ella Frei "as she keeps fighting her school board for privacy and protection in Wisconsin." The group says that support "says everything about who our moms are." Its post calls on parents to stand together, and it names "the evil forces" as the opposition¹. The post quoted Frei's own Oct. 11 message, "Prayer changes things," in which she tagged Moms for Liberty with a heart emoji². Moms for Liberty describes itself as “the grassroots fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating & empowering parents.”

Federal scrutiny and lawsuit

Moms for Liberty's call for solidarity came after the fight had already left the boardroom. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had opened a directed investigation into the New Richmond School District³. Parents and students were suing the district over its bathroom policy⁴.

Parents challenge restroom policy

The Education Department says its Office for Civil Rights opened the investigation on March 5, 2026, based on reports that New Richmond School District lets biological men use female restrooms. The office will determine whether the district violated Title IX by letting students use intimate facilities based on "gender identity," not biological sex³.

The department's account starts at a January 2026 board meeting, where multiple parents said they were concerned that males were being permitted to use the girls' restroom. Their questions about their daughters' safety were reportedly deflected by administrators who refused to provide answers or assurances. At a later meeting, a student testified about her fear, embarrassment and anxiety over boys in the girls' restrooms, and said she no longer uses the restrooms while in school³. What does a school board say to a girl who has stopped using the restroom at school?

Its answer, in February 2026, was a vote: a board member proposed separating bathrooms and locker rooms by biological sex, and only two of the seven board members voted in favor³. New Richmond Parents for Strong Schools then filed suit on April 10, only a month after it formed, accusing the district of violating Title IX, LGBTQ Nation reports⁵. Fox News reports that Frei is a plaintiff and that Cory Brewer of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty represents the families⁴.

Title IX frames the dispute

The federal question is Title IX, which the Education Department says bars sex discrimination in any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey put the department's position plainly: "School board members who ignore these allegations are failing the families they serve³."

New Richmond is not the first district the office has taken on. On Jan. 28, 2025, it announced an investigation into Denver Public Schools for converting a female restroom into an all-gender restroom at its largest high school, which the office described as discriminating against female students³.

Wisconsin has no state law banning trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity, LGBTQ Nation reports. With no state rule in play, the policy families are challenging is the district's own, set by a board that left parents' questions unanswered. The parents' group says its purpose is to fix that: its bylaws state that its sole purpose is to "preserve sex-segregated bathrooms and locker rooms" in Wisconsin public schools⁵. So the Title IX question now sits in two places at once: before federal civil-rights investigators and before a court.

Frei defends girls’ privacy

Frei, a high school junior in the district, has made the case in her own words. She told LGBTQ Nation: "Protecting girls by not allowing boys in the girls’ bathroom shouldn’t be controversial – it should be common sense." She added: "We are not going to abandon our identity as girls or ignore the real privacy concerns the school district has forced on us⁵."

Brewer says the district "left parents and young girls no choice but to go to court⁵." Fox News reports that he argues the policy violates privacy and dignity for female students⁴.

LGBTQ Nation reports that the suit offers no evidence that a student is photographing girls. The suit's core claim does not depend on a camera. It says female students now "avoid restrooms, miss class time, and experience anxiety and loss of privacy." LGBTQ Nation says the suit describes a student identified as A.D. who allegedly feels “significant discomfort” whenever she uses the bathroom because a trans student also uses it. The suit says the district's answer to girls who are uncomfortable is to direct them to separate, single-stall bathrooms⁵. That puts the burden on the girls, while the boy who changed the rule for the room is never asked to move.

Protect girls’ private spaces

Girls' private spaces must stay sex-separated, and parents are owed direct answers when they raise safety concerns. The New Richmond school board should take up the sex-separated facilities policy that only two members backed, and adopt it. New Richmond parents showed up at the board table in January; they should keep showing up, and the board should answer them.

Family Brief's position is that the girls should not be the ones who move: the girls' restroom and locker room belong to them, and no school may treat that privacy as a courtesy it can reassign.

Sources

1. @Moms4Liberty on X, 2026-10-15: Moms across the country praying a hedge of protection over young @EllaFrei17 as she keeps fighting her school board for privacy and protection in Wisconsin says everything about who our moms are. When we stand together, we can defeat the evil forces that tre, 2026-10-15
2. Ella Frei on X: "Prayer changes things.
3. U.S. Department of Education Initiates Title IX Investigation into Wisconsin School District Over Alleged Use of Women’s Restrooms by Biological Men | U.S. Department of Education
4. Wisconsin parents, students sue school district over gender-neutral bathroom policy | Fox News Video
5. Parents sue over school's trans-inclusive bathroom policy to protect their daughters' "dignity" - LGBTQ Nation