WEDNESDAY, June 4, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A federal judge has ruled that transgender inmates in U.S. prisons must continue getting medical care, including hormone therapy and gender-affirming accommodations.
The decision blocks parts of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which had restricted care for people with gender dysphoria, the distress felt when a person’s gender identity doesn’t match their assigned sex at birth, the Associated Press reported.
On June 3, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that prison officials can’t deny treatment that their own medical staff recommends.
“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,” the judge wrote.
The ruling applies to anyone in federal prison who needs this type of care now or in the future.
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) provides hormone therapy to more than 600 inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the AP said.
The agency doesn’t deny that the condition can cause serious mental health issues like anxiety, depression and even suicidal thoughts, the judge noted.
Trump’s executive order directed the BOP to avoid using federal money “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
The order also aimed to prevent transgender women (those assigned male at birth) from being placed in women’s prisons.
In February, Judge Lamberth temporarily blocked the transfer of three transgender women to men’s prisons and protected their access to hormone therapy.
He said the government hadn’t shown it considered how Trump’s policy would harm inmates.
One of plaintiffs, Alishea Kingdom, is a transgender woman who was approved for hormone therapy injections and social accommodations like feminine undergarments and cosmetics.
After Trump’s order, Kingdom missed three hormone treatments, and her access to women’s clothing still hasn’t been restored, AP reported.
“In Ms. Kingdom’s case, there is no indication at all that the BOP means to leave her hormone therapy in place long-term; indeed, as noted above, she was informed by BOP personnel that the decision to resume her treatment was a consequence of this litigation itself, raising the specter that her treatments might be discontinued as soon as the litigation has concluded,” Lamberth wrote.
The lawsuit is being handled by the Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Lamberth — who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, in 1987 — said federal law prevents prison officials from taking away health care without any good reason.
More information
Learn more about BOP: Federal Bureau of Prisons.
SOURCE: The Associated Press, June 3, 2025
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