A federal district court judge has denied a preliminary injunction request, permitting Florida prison officials to enforce a controversial policy that withholds gender-affirming medical care for transgender incarcerated individuals and imposes strict gender-assigned-at-birth standards.
“Florida officials are waging a baseless campaign to dehumanize and degrade incarcerated people like our client,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Allowing this policy to move forward threatens the basic human rights of transgender people in the state’s custody.”
The new policy overturns a 2016 settlement that allowed access to hormone therapy and gender-appropriate clothing for transgender inmates. The ACLU is vowing to continue the fight to restore access to gender-affirming care.
The policy, introduced by the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) on September 30, 2024, halts hormone therapy and other gender-affirming treatments for individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria. It also mandates transgender inmates adhere to clothing and grooming standards aligned with their birth-assigned gender.
Transgender women in custody have been subjected to invasive procedures to assess their need for bras, forced haircuts to comply with male grooming standards, and were ordered to surrender female undergarments and feminine hygiene products. Those who refused faced disciplinary action.
The ACLU and the ACLU of Florida filed an emergency lawsuit in October on behalf of Reiyn Keohane, a transgender woman who has received gender-affirming care since 2016. The litigation argues that the new FDC policy violates the Eighth Amendment, the right to medically necessary care.
