28/01/2025
Trump orders prison authorities to detain transgender women with men
President Trump has ordered federal prisons to house inmates who are transgender women in men’s facilities and halt medical treatments related to gender transition.
The move was part of a wide-ranging executive order issued by Mr. Trump on his first day in office meant to limit government recognition of an individual’s gender to their s*x at birth.
The directive on prisoners also applies to immigration detainees and is among the more concrete parts of the order. Mr. Trump set some restrictions on housing and health care for transgender prisoners in his previous term, but the new order was more far-reaching.
The Women’s Liberation Front, which defines women based on s*x at birth and advocates single-s*x prisons, called the directive “a major victory.” The group is challenging a California law that allows prisoners to request housing that aligns with their gender identity. It argues that the law violates the constitutional rights of female inmates who are not transgender, including the Eighth Amendment right to protection from cruel and unusual punishment.
Mr. Trump’s order echoed those arguments, saying that “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of s*x fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety and well-being.”
Credit: NY TIMES