U.S. President Donald Trump issued an order directing transgender women to be sent to male prisons to serve their sentences. This was reported by The New York Times.
According to the publication, federal prisons received specific instructions from the president. This action is part of a broader executive order Trump signed on his first day in office. The order limits the recognition of a person’s gender exclusively to biological sex, the publication reports. Advocates for the rights of transgender people and prisoners have criticized the decision, arguing that it could put them at risk.
In 2018, during his first term as president, Trump implemented a ban on transgender people serving in the military, with exceptions for certain cases. This also applied to people with gender dysphoria, a condition in which an individual cannot accept their biological sex. Transgender individuals were allowed to serve in the U.S. military in 2016 when President Barack Obama signed an executive order.
After his inauguration in January 2021, Joe Biden reversed the ban, stating that “gender identity should not be a barrier to serving in the military,” and emphasized that America’s strength lies in its diversity. On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump became president of the United States again. He signed an order that recognizes only two biological sexes—male and female.
The document, titled “Protecting Women from the Extremism of Gender Ideology and Restoring Biological Truth in the Federal Government,” establishes clear categories at the state level: “woman,” “girl,” “man,” “boy,” “female,” and “male.” All government agencies are required to use these terms when applying laws and in official documents, excluding issues related to gender identity.
