Federal prisons must continue to provide hormone therapy to transgender detainees, says a judge
Washington – The Federal Bureau of Prisons must continue to provide hormone therapy and social housing to hundreds of transgender detainees after An executive decree Signed by President Donald Trump who led to a disruption of medical treatment, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled on Tuesday.
American district judge Royce Lamberth declared in His decision A federal law prohibits prison officials from arbitrarily depriving the drug prisoners and other lifestyles that the office medical staff deemed appropriate.
The judge said that the transgender detainees who continued to block Trump's decree try to reduce the personal anxiety caused by his gender dysphoria, the distress that a person feels because his gender and gender identity do not correspond.
“In the light of the largely personal patterns of the complainants to undergo the care asserted by the sexes, neither the BOP nor the executive decree give a serious explanation as to the reasons for which the treatment methods covered by the decree or the implementation of the memorandums should be treated differently from any other intervention in mental health,” wrote the judge.
The prison office provides hormone therapy to more than 600 detainees diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The office does not dispute that gender dysphoria can cause serious side effects, including depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, said the judge.
The decree of the Republican President forced the office to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds are not spent “in order to comply with the appearance of an inmate with that of the opposite sex”.
Lamberth's decision is not limited to complainants appointed in the trial. He agreed to certify a class of complainants made up of anyone who is or will be imprisoned in federal prisons.
The complainants appointed to the trial include Alishea Kingdom, a transgender woman who has been prescribed hormonal injections and approved to receive social housing, including women and cosmetics. Kingdom was denied his hormone shot down three times after Trump signed his order, but she had him restored about a week after continuing. Its access to female underwear has not been restored, according to the judge's decision.
“In the case of Ms. Kingdom, nothing indicates at all that the BOP means leaving its hormone therapy in place in the long term;
Trump's order has also ordered the prisons office to ensure that “men are not detained in women's prisons”. In February, however, Lamberth agreed to temporarily prevent prison officials from transferring three transgender women incarcerated in men's facilities and to end their access to hormone therapy.
The judge said there was no evidence that Trump or prison officials considered the damage that new policies could do with transgender prisoners.
“The defendants argue that the complainants have not alleged irreparable damage because they currently receive hormonal drugs. But it is enough to say that the access of the three complainants to hormone therapy is, as best as the court can say,” Lamberth wrote.
The complainants are represented by lawyers from Transgender Law Center and the American Union Liberties.
Lamberth, a principal judge, was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, in 1987.
