This is Trans News Tracker, a biweekly Autostraddle roundup and analysis of the biggest trans news stories. To support this vital work we do, consider becoming a member.
In what is one of the cruelest and most heinous acts of violence committed against trans and intersex people by the Trump administration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is halting all protections for trans and intersex people who are currently incarcerated in federal, state, and local prisons, jails, and youth detention facilities according to a memo obtained by Prism late last week.
The memo written by Tammie M. Gregg, the principal deputy director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, shows the administration is taking aim at the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), a law that includes targeted protections for trans and intersex people who are currently incarcerated across the U.S. Adam Rhodes writes, “the memo instructs all PREA auditors to ignore those challenged provisions in their audits. It states that facilities ‘shall not be held to subsections of the PREA Standards that may conflict with’ President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order until the updates are finalized.”
This means that while Gregg and the rest of the DOJ “analyze” the protections for trans and intersex prisoners enshrined in PREA to decide whether or not they’re at odds with the Trump administration’s executive order, they are taking these protections away even though PREA is still very much the law.
According to the memo, the DOJ intends on amending PREA to change the way trans and intersex people are screened for risk of sexual abuse where they are imprisoned, the process for determining where trans and intersex prisoners are housed, their ability to shower separately from other people who are imprisoned, and change the way sexual abuse against incarcerated trans and intersex people is reviewed and investigated.
Although PREA is still in effect, this initial push to stop enforcing PREA standards of protection and the possible changes to PREA coming in the next few months will put many incarcerated trans and intersex people in grave danger. Given that trans people are 12 times more likely to be sexual assaulted in prison even with PREA in effect, the dismantling of PREA altogether is a devastating blow to an already incredibly precarious position for trans and intersex people who are currently incarcerated.
Shana Knizhnik, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) LGBTQ & HIV Project, told Prism that “PREA is still the law. Standards that are in place are still the law, and so this is essentially a directive to disregard the law.” Rhodes reports, “She also said nothing is stopping individual jurisdictions from continuing or enacting their own protections for trans, intersex, and other vulnerable populations in custody.”
Some Good Trans News For Once
Sarah McBride leads bipartisan coalition to secure ‘freedom and dignity’ for LGBTQ+ people globally. I feel weird about putting this in the “good news” because I don’t like when the U.S. government acts as the world’s top cop, but here it is anyway. McBride, along with 119 co-sponsors in the House, has reintroduced the Global Respect Act, “human rights legislation designed to hold accountable the individuals who carry out torture, imprisonment, and violence against LGBTQ+ communities worldwide,” to the House floor.
UPMC Refuses DOJ Access to Trans Youth Health Records. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital responded to a subpoena sent out by the U.S. Department of Justice by refusing to follow the request outlined in the subpoena. After watching all of these hospitals capitulate to Trump’s orders over the last almost 12 months, it’s nice to see a hospital standing up for its trans patients.
Court rejects U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to access trans kids’ medical records. Relatedly, district judge Mark A. Kearney, in the eastern district of Pennsylvania, said the subpoenas and the orders to release young trans patients’ medical information is bullshit anyways, so everyone in the state of Pennsylvania who chooses not to comply is now protected by court order.
Library groups, publishers criticize Tennessee secretary of state’s gender identity audit. Believe it or not, state representatives are still trying to fuck with libraries regarding what kinds of books and other media they have available for their patrons. And people are still standing up against these representatives’ attempts to make this material disappear.
A new home named after a trans icon is bringing much-needed hope to queer people in need. This story made me cry because it involves late trans activist and legend Cecilia Gentili and it’s right in my neighborhood. Casa Cecilia, an initiative from the Ali Forney Center, is a new refuge for “20 unhoused queer and trans people at a time with six months of shelter and care in a supportive LGBTQ+-centered setting.” Named after Gentilli herself, the new home is “part of the Ali Forney Center’s ambitious program for supporting at-risk community members.”
Study in the Journal Of Pediatrics finds trans youth care lowers suicidality, few detransition. This is kind of “water is wet” news in a lot of ways, but I do think we should keep up with and draw attention to any and all studies that disprove what all of the transphobes around us are constantly trying to push forward.
Georgia law banning gender-affirming care for trans inmates struck down. As I’ve said many times in this column, the lower courts are truly doing their lion’s share of protecting trans people these days, and it’s kind of amazing to see. In this case, Judge Victoria M. Calvert issued a permanent injunction against SB 185 — a law prohibiting “the use of state funds or resources for gender-affirming surgeries, hormone replacement therapy, cosmetic procedures, and other treatments for gender dysphoria” — “finding that it violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.”
These parents couldn’t find a space that centered Black trans kids. So they made one. This is a great report on Rainbow in Black, an organization for parents of color and their trans children that offers “monthly meetings where parents can come together and share community.” Despite everything that’s thrown at us, it’s good to remember there are still many people who care deeply for the trans youth and adults in their lives.
Trans News I Wish I Didn’t Have to Report
GOP bill seeks to fire teachers who affirm trans students even if parents are okay with it. Lawmakers in Missouri are trying to make the lives of trans kids and their allies at their schools a living hell by attempting to pass a law that would ban students from transitioning socially in their public high schools and would carry a heavy consequence for school officials who support their transition.
HHS changed the name of transgender health leader on her official portrait. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dead-named one of its own leaders on her federal portrait because apparently, even though the structure of the U.S. is absolutely crumbling to pieces, these losers have nothing better to do.
University of Oklahoma instructor on leave after failing grade on gender essay. God, this story is just so appallingly banal to me but I knew I had to include it here in some capacity. I almost wrote about it as the main story for this week’s column with my little thoughts on how the outrage-industrial complex is just one big money-making machine for the far-right and how desperately we need to stop giving into it. But I didn’t because I was scared I was giving into it, too. So anyways, here’s this ridiculous story about a college kid who can’t write for shit and then tried to blame their bad grade on the fact that they didn’t agree with the class’s given curriculum. And more importantly, here’s some good stories about people reacting appropriately to how this has all played out.
Trans news from across the pond:
Trans people could be barred from services based on appearance. Is it me or does it seem like the U.S. and the UK are locked into a battle of who can be more evil and transphobic than the other? This week, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UK Supreme Court are trying to figure out how to “reliably identify” trans people so they know if they’re allowed to use certain public services or not. What a sick joke.
Two U.K. Women’s Groups Ban Transgender Girls and Women. And then on top of it, the UK’s Women’s Institute, the UK’s largest women’s voluntary organization, and Girlguiding, essentially the British version of the Girl Scouts, have decided to exclude trans women from their organizations.
Last Bits
We had some great personal essays published by some of our trans and gender-nonconforming writers here at Autostraddle the last couple of weeks: you can read Frances James Dinger on grieving the loss of their grandparents, Autumn Fourkiller on Twilight (and much more), and Motti on his attachment to The Family Stone.
Influencer refuses award due to trans women being excluded: ‘Cycling UK didn’t mean all women’. Sometimes standing up for others means missing out on opportunities for yourself because that’s what it takes to make a statement. That’s exactly what Claire Sharpe, a cycling guide and coach from Bristol, did when she was supposed to be included in Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling list for 2025.
Stef, thank you for writing about these things, I imagine it is a very distressing process.
The “Good Trans News” section feels so supportive, like a soothing balm to my just-kicked heart, or glucose-rich water during a marathon, so thank you for including that.
The way you write also helps me understand some of the things that would otherwise go over my head, and helps me put simplicity to some concept/ feelings I would otherwise struggle to communicate, like when you wrote about the US being the world’s top cop, and the “water is wet” for what is seemingly already apparent.
All this to say thank you for continuing to show up to this important, heart wrenching work.