WASHINGTON — Three transgender women currently serving federal prison time sued Thursday to block an executive order that would require them to be moved to men’s facilities and end their access to gender-affirming medical care.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in D.C. by three plaintiffs identified as Jane, Mary and Sara Doe. Attorneys representing the women asked to proceed under pseudonyms, saying if their clients were identified it could open them to harassment, retaliation and potential violence.
The suit seeks to block enforcement of two sections of an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week declaring the federal government would recognize only two sexes: male and female. Among other requirements, the order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” directs the attorney general and secretary of homeland security to “ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.” It also bars the Bureau of Prisons from using any federal funds for “any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
According to the complaint, all three plaintiffs are currently housed in federal women’s facilities at the recommendation of Bureau of Prisons staff and have been receiving medical care to treat gender dysphoria which, according to the Mayo Clinic, is psychological stress caused when an individual’s gender identity does not match their biological sex. One, identified as Jane Doe, has been receiving hormone therapy continuously for nearly a decade, according to the complaint.
“If Jane is transferred to a men’s facility, she will not be safe. She will be at an extremely high risk of harassment, abuse, violence and sexual assault. She has previously been sexually assaulted in BOP men’s facilities before she was moved to a women’s facility,” the complaint reads. “If transferred, she may also be subject to strip searches by male correctional officers. She may be forced to shower in full view of men who are incarcerated. And she will predictably experience worsening gender dysphoria exacerbated by a lack of medical care, which can lead to serious harm, including dramatically increased rates of suicidality and depression.”
A second plaintiff, identified as Mary Doe, has reportedly been housed at a women’s facility for more than three-and-a-half years. Prior to that, according to the complaint, she was housed in men’s facilities where she was raped multiple times.
Attorneys for the women said they had all been moved out of general population and into segregated housing following Trump’s order in preparation for transfer to a men’s facility. According to the complaint, all three have since been returned to general population, but have been warned they still face imminent transfer.
The complaint argues Trump’s order was driven by “hostility towards transgender people” and violates transgender inmate’s rights under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. It also argues, as numerous other lawsuits in recent weeks challenging Trump’s executive orders have, that the attorney general and Bureau of Prisons would be in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations, were they to implement the order’s directives.
The complaint seeks an injunction prohibiting the attorney general and Bureau of Prisons from implementing two sections of the executive order as well as a court order requiring the BOP to maintain the women’s current housing and medical treatment.
Trump made attacks on transgender individuals a central part of his presidential campaign – vowing to address what he described as “transgender insanity” and claiming Democrats were pushing a “transgender cult” on children. Since taking office, Trump has taken multiple actions specifically aimed at transgender individuals.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order barring transgender service members from the military. The order states that individuals “expressing a false ‘gender identity’… cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” The next day, he signed another order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” directing federal funds not be used for gender transitions for people under the age of 19. On his social media site Truth Social, Trump referred to transition surgeries as “barbaric medical procedures.”
“Our Nation will no longer fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’ which has already ruined far too many precious lives,” Trump wrote.
The incarcerated plaintiffs are being represented in their suit by attorneys from the law firms Brown, Goldstein & Levy and Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grundfeld, as well as the non-profit National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, who are also representing a fourth transgender inmate who filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts.
As of Friday, the case had not yet been assigned to a judge.