A former Norfolk, Virginia, police officer filed a lawsuit against the city and its police chief earlier this month after the police department allegedly allowed a biological male to use the women's locker rooms.
According to the documents obtained by Fox News Digital, the Aug. 10 legal complaint stemmed from an August 2024 incident in which former Norfolk police officer Meghan Grabow was changing in the women's locker room and stripped down to her underwear when a recruit described as a "biological male who identifies as a woman" entered the room wearing a suit and tie. Grabow said that the recruit looked at her "as a man would look at a woman" before moving to another part of the locker room.
Grabow claimed that when she spoke to her superiors about her discomfort, she was told to "learn to deal with it" and "find another locker room" if she was uncomfortable.
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In addition to this incident, Grabow said that she and other concerned officers were told by police chief Mark Talbot that the "woman" hired by the department "will use the restroom that's appropriate for her gender" and were repeatedly instructed to refer to the recruit as "she."
Other officers also voiced concerns that they were not warned about sharing facilities with a biological male, something Talbot acknowledged could have been handled "better."
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Grabow later received an indefinite suspension pending termination in 2025 over a minor traffic violation committed prior to the incident after attempting to voice a complaint. Other officers have since left the department over their backlash to the transgender policy, the complaint states.
Grabow is seeking $15 million in compensatory damages, claiming Talbot and the police department were guilty of intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as violating her religious freedoms by forcing her to share a changing facility with a biological male and validate transgender ideology against her Catholic beliefs.
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Attorney Scott Lloyd, who is representing Grabow in the case, told Fox News Digital in a statement that they are determined to protect female-only spaces through this case.
"We need to defend private spaces for the women who rely on them. Officer Grabow has done a brave and admirable thing by stepping forward, but it shouldn't have come to this," Lloyd said.
The Norfolk Police Department declined to comment to Fox News Digital, saying that it "cannot comment on pending litigation or personnel-related matters."
Under 2020 guidelines for the Norfolk Police Department, employees are encouraged not to question a transgender person's identity except for "articulable reasons," such as if they are related to a crime.
"Employees will respect an individual's gender identity and gender expression. An individual's gender expression may be traits that are not typically associated with a person's assigned sex at birth; these expressions may include wigs, prosthetics, makeup, adopted name, tone of voice, clothing, mannerisms, etc.," the 2020 general order read.
