A federal judge has blocked efforts to move transgender women in prisons to male-only facilities after Donald Trump signed his executive order stating the US would only recognize two sexes; male and female.
Trump signed the order on his first day back in the White House on January 20, claiming in the document that it was intended to 'defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male'.
The order, which claimed it would 'defend women from gender ideology extremism', has resulted in a number of lawsuits from transgender people claiming their rights are being impacted, including a suit from 12 transgender women housed at Bureau of Prisons facilities.
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The inmates filed a joint lawsuit on January 30 amid concerns they would lose access to medical treatments for gender dysphoria and potentially face serious harm if they were forced to be placed in prisons that didn't recognize their gender identities as a result of the executive order.
Some of the concerns stem from one point made in Trump's order which states that the Bureau of Prisons should revise its policies on medical care so no federal money is spent 'for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex'.
In the filing, the inmates claimed they were likely to be at 'extremely high risk of harassment, abuse, violence and sexual assault' if put into male facilities, noting also that they would be subject to strip searches by male correctional officers.
After considering the case, US District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a temporary order on February 18 to prevent the inmates from being transferred. On Monday (February 24), he extended the order with a preliminary injunction, ruling the inmates were likely to win their case on constitutional grounds.
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Explaining his decision, Lamberth cited 'numerous government reports and regulations recognizing that transgender persons are at a significantly elevated risk of physical and sexual violence relative to other inmates when housed in a facility corresponding to their biological sex'.
Even if inmates weren't subject to physical or sexual violence, Lamberth ruled that housing the transgender women in male prisons would contribute to their gender dysphoria because 'the mere homogeneous presence of men will cause uncomfortable dissonance'.
Hitting back, government lawyers argued that the judge had nothing to rule on because prisons haven’t adopted a new policy yet for transgender inmates.
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According to USA Today, Rick Stover, senior deputy assistant director of the bureau’s designation and sentence computation center, reported that as of February 20 the Bureau of Prisons had 2,198 transgender inmates in prisons and halfway houses, including 1,488 people assigned as male at birth who now identify as female, and 710 people assigned as female at birth who now identify as male.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.
Topics: Donald Trump, LGBTQ, Politics, US News
Emily Brown