A federal judge temporarily halted the transfer of a transgender inmate to a men’s prison under President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting gender-related accommodations in federal facilities, according to the inmate’s legal counsel.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston issued a temporary restraining order on Sunday, barring federal prison officials from relocating the inmate, known in court filings as Marie Moe, Reuters reported.
A spokeswoman for the group GLAD Law, the group that brought the case, said the order “requires them to keep our client in general population in a women’s facility and to maintain her medical care,” according to a statement to the outlet.
The case marked the first legal challenge to Trump’s Jan. 20 order targeting “gender ideology extremism.” The judge has also ordered the case to be partially sealed from public viewing, making it difficult to keep tabs on the case as litigation proceeds. The judge’s decision had not been posted on the docket as of 6:10 p.m. Eastern.
Moe, a biologically male inmate who identifies as a woman, filed the lawsuit after the Bureau of Prisons relocated the inmate to a special housing unit pending transfer to a men’s facility. The suit, backed by a coalition of pro-LGBT civil rights groups, argues Moe faces a high risk of violence and harassment in a male prison and that losing access to long-standing hormone treatment would cause irreparable harm.
Pro-LGBT groups critical of Trump’s order cite past cases of transgender inmates being assaulted in men’s facilities, while supporters of Trump’s action argue that housing biological males in women’s prisons poses its own safety risks.
On the first day of Trump’s term in office, the 47th president signed an executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This order mandates that all federal agencies recognize only two biological sexes, male and female, and also aims to cease funding for transgender procedures.
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The complaint, filed in Massachusetts federal court, notably does not indicate what Moe is currently incarcerated for but claims the inmate has “no violent disciplinary history,” presents “no threat” to female peers, and has not been accused of “disruption or interference with prison operations.”
The Washington Examiner contacted attorneys for the inmate and a GLAD spokeswoman but did not receive a response.
