The First Lawsuit Challenging the Recent Executive Order on Sex and Gender Has Been Filed

January 28. 2025

On January 26, a male inmate filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Donald Trump, the Acting Attorney General, and the Acting Director of the Bureau of Prisons.

The suit alleges that the recent Executive Order on Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government violates his rights to equal protection and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. It also makes allegations under the federal Rehabilitation Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. He is asking for a temporary restraining order to block the order for all male inmates (or, as the New York Times says, “all transgender prisoners”).

He is referred to in the complaint as Maria Moe (a pseudonym) and is represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and G.L.B.T.Q Advocates and Defenders, and by a private law firm, Lowenstein Sandler.

Do I think it will hold up? Read on to find out.

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