A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the federal Bureau of Prisons must continue to provide hormone therapy and social accommodations to hundreds of transgender inmates in the wake of President Trump’s executive order, which caused a disruption in medical treatment.
According to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a federal law prohibits prison officials from arbitrarily denying inmates medications and other lifestyle accommodations deemed appropriate by their own medical staff.
The judge stated that the transgender inmates who sued to block Trump’s executive order are attempting to alleviate the personal anguish caused by their gender dysphoria, which is the distress that a person feels when their assigned gender and gender identity do not match.
“In light of the plaintiffs’ largely personal motives for undergoing gender-affirming care, neither the BOP nor the Executive Order provides any serious explanation as to why the treatment modalities covered by the Executive Order or implementing memoranda should be handled differently than any other mental health intervention,” according to his paper.
Over 600 inmates have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and the Bureau of Prisons is providing hormone therapy to them. The bureau does not deny that gender dysphoria can have serious consequences, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, according to the judge.
The Republican president’s executive order directed the bureau to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds are not spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
Lamberth’s decision is not limited to the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit. He agreed to certify a class of plaintiffs that includes anyone who is or will be incarcerated in federal prisons.
Trump’s order also required the federal Bureau of Prisons to ensure that “males are not detained in women’s prisons.” Lamberth did, however, agree in February to temporarily block prison officials from transferring three incarcerated transgender women to men’s facilities and terminating their access to hormone therapy.
The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers from the Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.
President Reagan nominated Lamberth, a senior judge, to the bench in 1987.