A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order that would have required male inmates to be housed in men’s prisons and ended taxpayer-funded hormone therapy for transgender-identifying prisoners.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, issued the temporary restraining order Tuesday in response to a lawsuit filed by three transgender-identifying male inmates who were previously housed in women’s facilities. The plaintiffs argued that Trump’s order violated their constitutional rights and put them at risk of violence.
Legal Battle Over Common Sense Prison Policy
The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., claims that moving these inmates to men’s prisons violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Attorneys from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders are representing the plaintiffs, arguing that Trump’s policy removes the discretion of prison officials and puts transgender inmates in harm’s way.
Trump’s executive order, signed on January 20, directed the federal government to recognize only two sexes—male and female—and mandated that “males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers.” It also prohibited federal funds from being used to alter an inmate’s appearance to match the opposite sex.
Lamberth ruled that the administration had not presented sufficient justification for transferring transgender inmates or stopping hormone therapy. “The defendants have not so much as alleged that the plaintiffs in this particular suit present any threat to the female inmates housed with them, or that this threat cannot be managed locally by prison staff,” Lamberth wrote in his decision. “Thus, the public interest in seeing the plaintiffs relocated immediately to male facilities is slight at best.”
Trump Draws the Line on Gender Ideology
While the judge’s order is temporary, it signals a legal battle ahead. The Justice Department has not yet issued a statement in response to the ruling.
Trump has made it clear that his administration will not tolerate gender ideology interfering with public policy. During his inaugural address, he stated: “I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called the executive order “dangerous” and claimed it would “do nothing other than increase sexual assaults and cause upheaval in our nation’s prisons.” Ricardo Martinez, executive director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, described the policy as “a direct attack on transgender Americans” and vowed to challenge it in court.
The case is expected to continue through the legal system, with future rulings determining whether the administration’s policy will be upheld or struck down. Meanwhile, Trump remains firm on ensuring that biological sex, not gender identity, dictates federal policy.
