The Biden administration has taken a deeply religious, conservative state to court to force officials to house male inmates with female prisoners. The lawsuit previews a new category of lawsuits that will likely be filed against anyone with moral, religious, or scientific objections to transgenderism by claiming that failing to let a male who identifies as a woman serve hard time in a female penitentiary constitutes discrimination against people with disabilities.
On Tuesday, Biden’s Justice Department sued the state of Utah, the Utah Department of Corrections (UDOC), and the Utah Department of Health and Human Services for refusing to transfer the male prisoner to female correctional housing, not allowing the male inmate to require female officers to pat him down, not allowing the individual to purchase female clothing, and for implementing “a biased and unnecessarily prolonged” process before administering taxpayer-funded cross-sex hormone injections to convicts. The DOJ claims these policies violate Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — although the authors of the landmark 1990 bill intentionally excluded disorders based on gender identity and sexual preference.
In a March 12 letter in which the DOJ outlined the “minimum remedial measures UDOC must take to address” the alleged violations, the Biden administration complained, “Despite its policy to ensure appropriate and safe housing, UDOC assigns incarcerated persons, including those with gender dysphoria, to either male or female housing based solely on sex at ‘commitment,’ as determined by staff conducting a visual search of genitals.”
The right of felons who say they identify as transgender to be housed with the opposite sex is a “basic right [which] extends to those with gender dysphoria,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division, who signed the DOJ’s legal brief. In her capacity in the Biden administration, Clarke — a former employee of multiple left-wing legal activist organizations — has sued Tennessee for trying to halt the spread of AIDS via prostitution, targeted dozens of pro-life advocates for federal prosecution, and sued Arizona for requiring voters to show a valid photo ID. Before the ADA ruling, she has also claimed that laws protecting minors from irreversible transgender “medical” procedures may violate the 14th Amendment.
Numerous women have been sexually exploited or physically assaulted by male inmates who allegedly identify as women.
State officials were incredulous at the charges, as well as the Biden administration’s decision to focus its energy on forcing men into women’s prison cells. “Man in prison wanted to be a woman and be transferred to a prison for women. Utah prison officials rightly said ‘no,’” said Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). “Biden DOJ sues prison. Welcome to Biden’s America.” State officials offered their legal dissent, as well. “We fundamentally disagree with the DOJ on key issues, and are disappointed with their approach,” insisted UDOC Executive Director Brian Redd in March.
The Americans with Disabilities Act explicitly excludes “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments.” The ADA also bars disability claims for “transvestism, transsexualism,” homosexuality, bisexuality, “pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism … compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania,” and drug addiction.
However, an August 2022 opinion from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a trans-identifying male inmate in Virginia must be housed in a women’s prison under the ADA. The court claimed that, since the American Psychiatric Association had replaced “gender identity disorders” with “gender dysphoria” and claimed the latter had more stringent criteria than the former, the category of “gender identity disorders” no longer exists. “Gender dysphoria,” the court opined, presents a real disability to those who suffer.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case last June 30, effectively establishing the ruling as binding precedent for the ADA, which impacts virtually every aspect of U.S. life, including employment.
“The potential impact of the Fourth Circuit’s decision is difficult to overstate,” warned Justice Samuel Alito in a scathing dissent. “If the ADA allows a cause of action for not facilitating hormone treatment, an ADA claim may presumably be filed against any ‘hospital’ or ‘health care provider’ that declines to provide hormone treatment or surgical procedures as part of a process of gender transition.”
The legal precedent could result in employers “firing all employees who refuse (perhaps for religious reasons)” to use improper pronouns for people who identify as transgender, Justice Alito warned.
The new lawsuit against Utah shows that judicial activists have found a new way to force an unpopular transgender agenda on Americans through unelected judges. The Obama-Biden administration pioneered the argument that alleged “discrimination” against people who identify as transgender constitutes forbidden sexual discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — an argument the Supreme Court accepted in its 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County opinion, which was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee.
The latest DOJ case claims Utah’s Department of Corrections wrongly forces people who identify as transgender to submit their claims to a board, slowing their access to taxpayer-funded hormone injections. If denied, the inmate must wait one year before submitting another request. One inmate peppered the prison with extraordinary requests, most of which were denied. The DOJ’s legal brief contains the astonishing statement, “In May 2023, Complainant performed dangerous self-surgery and removed her own testicles.”
The DOJ asks the court to force Utah prison officials to provide transgender medical procedures to inmates (at taxpayer expense), and “to reasonably modify its policies, practices, and procedures” such as housing for the plaintiff “and others with gender dysphoria” in order “to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability.”
The DOJ also hopes the court will order all prison employees to undergo mandatory sessions in transgender ideology to “train and educate” staffers about the DOJ’s interpretation of transgender ideology and the ADA; and to “designate one or more employees … at each UDOC facility” to cater to the desires of prisoners who identify as transgender.
The Biden administration also asks the prison to pay “compensatory damages” to the convicted eunuch inmate.
If successful, the case could impact two laws signed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R): the “Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying, and Women’s Opportunities,” which applies to all government buildings, and the “Inmate Assignment Amendments,” which protects women’s safety during incarceration.
The spokesperson for Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R), as well as for British speaker Nicola Williams of Fair Play for Women did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.
