A federal judge in Boston, George O’Toole, has issued a temporary restraining order to prevent prison officials from transferring a transgender woman, known by the pseudonym Maria Moe, to a male facility and denying her access to care. In fact, Trump’s executive order requires the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes, male and female, house transgender women only in men’s prisons, and cease funding any gender-based medical care for inmates. Moe has in fact been on hormone therapy since she was a teenager to treat her gender dysphoria.
Trump signed this executive order on January 20, when he took office as president, which for the first time was openly challenged by a judge. His case is being followed by LGBTQ rights advocates, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD.
According to the latter, the judge’s temporary order requires prison officials to keep inmate Moe, in the women’s facility and continue to provide her with her medical care. Meanwhile, Judge O’Toole is also considering issuing a longer preliminary injunction. This would be a further challenge to Trump’s policy.
Jennifer Levi, a GLAD attorney handling Moe’s case, expressed relief that her client “is staying for now.” As Reuters reports, Moe’s attorneys said that the day after Trump signed the executive order document, Moe received a warning from Federal Bureau of Prisons officials about her impending transfer from a women’s prison to a men’s facility, exposing her to an “extremely high risk of harassment, abuse, violence and sexual assault.” The lawyers also argue, Trump’s executive order discriminates on the basis of sex and violates rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
