Three federal transgender inmates on Friday sued the Trump administration and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) over restrictions on the access of gender-affirming care. 

The lawsuit comes after the Trump administration announced that the government would only recognize two genders, male and female. President Donald Trump also signed an executive order that banned federal money from being used for “gender ideology.” 

The executive order also instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to move transgender women into men’s prisons, and prohibits the BOP from using federal funds for gender-affirming care.

The new lawsuit was filed on behalf of two transgender inmates who identify as men, and one transgender inmate who identifies as female, according to The Hill. All three were diagnosed with gender dysphoria by BOP medical providers, and are serving sentences in New Jersey, Minnesota and Florida.

Attorneys for the inmates argue that the new order violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by denying them access to the care.

“By denying Plaintiffs and putative class members medically necessary treatment for their gender dysphoria, Defendants have caused and will continue to cause them harm by withholding effective treatment for an objectively serious medical condition,” the lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Transgender Law Center, states.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington D.C., covers roughly 2,000 transgender people incarcerated in federal prisons nationwide.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.