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A transgender woman incarcerated in a federal prison has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging a recent executive order that mandates housing transgender inmates based on their sex assigned at birth. The order, signed by former President Donald Trump on January 20, also prohibits federal funding for gender-affirming medical care for prisoners.
The order recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and aims to prevent what Trump’s administration describes as “gender ideology” from influencing government policies. It explicitly bars transgender women from being housed in women’s prisons and instructs the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to enforce these regulations. Additionally, it prohibits federal funds from covering any medical treatments, procedures, or medications intended to align an inmate’s physical appearance with their gender identity.
BOP had previously updated its transgender offender manual in 2022, restoring Obama-era protections that considered transgender inmates’ safety when assigning housing and required the use of their chosen names and pronouns. However, during Trump’s first term, federal prisons housed transgender individuals based only on their sex at birth, though some were still granted access to gender-affirming care.
On Sunday, a federal lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts on behalf of plaintiff Maria Moe—a pseudonym used in legal documents to protect her identity. The lawsuit, filed by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP, argues that Trump’s executive order violates the Fifth and Eighth Amendments of the Constitution and sidesteps necessary federal rulemaking procedures.
“The order directly targets transgender Americans by attempting to deny them legal recognition and strip them of long-standing legal protections,” the lawsuit states. Moe’s legal team also contends that the timing and content of the order indicate it was driven by discriminatory intent rather than any legitimate government interest.
Moe, who identified as transgender since middle school and began hormone treatment at 15, has always been housed in women’s facilities and had her sex recorded as “female” in BOP records. However, on January 25, her records were changed to classify her as “male” under the new executive order. She was then removed from the general population and placed in a “special housing unit.”
BOP officials have informed Moe that she will soon be transferred to a men’s prison, a decision she cannot contest under the executive order. Her lawsuit seeks to overturn the directive, arguing that it endangers transgender inmates and denies them fundamental rights. The case is expected to spark further debate on the treatment of transgender individuals in the U.S. prison system.
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