Trump Signs Executive Order To Ban Trans Women From Women’s Prisons

Trump's order pushes for transgender women to be moved to men's prison, but not for transgender men to be moved to women's prison.

President Trump signed an executive order directing federal prisons to place transgender women in men’s facilities as well as to stop providing medical treatments for gender transitions on his first day in office.

According to the New York Times, the changes are a large part of an executive order issued to restrict the government’s recognition of gender to only a person’s sex assigned at birth.

Trump’s order will notably overturn safety provisions protecting transgender women against assault.

As the Prison Rape Elimination Act states, “males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers, including through amendment, as necessary, of Part 115.41 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations…and interpretation guidance regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Trump’s executive order, which is titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” requires transgender women to be moved, but not transgender men.

Trump’s executive order states, “these [transgender rights] efforts [seek to] to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety and well-being.”

The executive order will apply not only to prisoners but also to current immigration detainees.

Transgender rights advocates have been vocal that the change will put transgender inmates in severe danger.

As reported by the New York Times, the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Shannon Minter, stated, “There will be rapes and physical assaults because of this policy. It’s also terrible for prison officials, who right now have the authority to use discretion about what makes the most sense for the safety and security of the facility.”

The new executive order is also reportedly vulnerable to legal pushbacks, as there is a precedent in the federal courts for prison systems to be required to protect vulnerable prisoners — which includes transgender inmates. Federal courts have also ordered prisons to offer medical care such as hormone therapies to prisoners diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the past as well.

Currently, there are around 1,500 federal prisoners who are transgender women. According to the Bureau of Prisons, 15 percent of women in prison are transgender.