Donald Trump signing an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship in the U.S. (Forbes).
A transgender prisoner has taken legal action against the administration of Donald Trump regarding the constitutionality of an executive order he issued on his first day in office. The order instructed the government to acknowledge only two genders when assigning federal inmates to facilities and also prohibited them from receiving medical care that affirms their gender. This lawsuit is the first formal opposition to Trump’s gender directive, which the legal action criticizes as a significant threat to transgender rights.
The lawsuit, filed by the inmate using the alias Maria Moe, argues that sex classifications are subject to strict scrutiny and are generally considered unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment. The complaint points out that on January 23, 2025, the Bureau of Prisons identified Moe as female, but by January 25, the classification was changed to male.
Moe’s legal complaint was submitted on a Sunday in a federal court in Massachusetts by attorneys from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, a civil rights organization. Trump’s executive order, which denounced “gender ideology extremism,” was signed on January 20, shortly after his inauguration.
“Executive Order 14166 began causing harm to Maria Moe almost immediately,” her complaint says. “As a result of the Order, she has already suffered significant distress. The Order also raises serious concerns for her safety and well-being going forward.”
According to Moe’s lawyers, the inmate — who came out as transgender in middle school and began taking hormones for gender dysphoria at age 15 — has been housed in a women’s facility since being incarcerated. She was moved from general population after Trump’s order was issued and placed in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) while she waits to be transported to a men’s prison, her complaint says.
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“In a men’s facility, Maria Moe will be at extremely high risk of rape and sexual assault,” the complaint alleges. “She may also be subjected to humiliating, terrifying, and dangerous circumstances like being strip searched by male correctional officers and forced to shower among men, with her female body, including her breasts, exposed and vulnerable to sexual violence.”
Under Trump’s order, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) must now house transgender inmates according to their sex at birth. It also bars transgender inmates from receiving gender-affirming care while locked up.
“The Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers, including through amendment,” Trump’s order says. “The Attorney General shall ensure that the Bureau of Prisons revises its policies concerning medical care to be consistent with this order, and shall ensure that no Federal funds are expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
In 2022, the BOP’s gender policy was changed to restore guidelines put in place by Barack Obama’s administration that recognize and protect transgender inmates when housing them in federal correctional facilities. Trump had previously done away with this policy during his first term.
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“BOP’s decision to transfer Maria Moe to a men’s facility and the imminent threat to deny her necessary medical care solely because of her birth sex and transgender status are unconstitutional,” Moe’s complaint charges. “The Order directly targets transgender Americans by attempting to deny them legal recognition under federal law and to strip them of long-established legal protections.”
Specifically, Moe’s legal team says Trump’s order violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections and the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit points to the “timing, content and context” of the order, which according to Moe’s lawyers, was fueled by “discriminatory animus.”
Attempts by Law&Crime to reach the Trump administration and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders for comment Monday were unsuccessful.
