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Topics: Transgender, Politics, Donald Trump, LGBTQ, News, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Transgender, Politics, Donald Trump, LGBTQ, News, US News
One of President Trump's recently-signed executive orders has raised questions about the future of transgender women in prison.
On his first day back in office this week, Trump signed what's titled the 'Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government' executive order, along with several others.
The order alleges that people having been trying to 'eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being'.
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With this in mind, Trump's controversial order has been created to 'defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male'.
There are several key parts of the order, one being that the Trump Administration will only accept that there are two genders — male and female.
"These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality," it adds.
Because of this, transgender women who are still seen as male (as per Trump's new executive order) will no longer be able to be housed in female prisons.
A clause of the order that looks at 'Privacy in Intimate Spaces' explains: "The Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention center."
While some people have applauded the change, others have expressed their concerns for the LGBTQ+ community.
Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told the New York Times: "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."
On the other hand, the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) have hailed the order as a 'victory'.
"WoLF has been fighting to get men out of women’s prisons for years, and we are thrilled to see the specific inclusion of women’s prisons in this order," the organization penned in a statement shared to its website.
"The order directs the Attorney General to oversee the amendment of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) regulations to ensure men are not housed in women’s prisons. This is a major victory since PREA anticipates the housing of men in women’s facilities under certain circumstances, and this has presented a major issue for advocates of single-sex prisons."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.