Finds in favor of transgender woman incarcerated with men.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that transgender people are legally protected from discrimination for their gender under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Kesha Williams filed a lawsuit in 2020 after she was incarcerated in a men’s prison for over six months. Though gender dysphoria was originally seen as an identity disorder, the American Psychiatric Association updated its definition in 2013 to better focus on the “clinically significant distress” experienced by transgender people.
Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote in the opinion of the court, “Reflecting this shift in medical understanding, we and other courts have thus explained that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, unlike that of ‘gender identity disorder,’ concerns itself primarily with distress and other disabling symptoms, rather than simply being transgender.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For federal judges as they hear and rule on cases regarding transgender rights.
- For U.S. prison officials as they face accusations of discrimination for incarcerations according to biological sex.
Sources: The Hill, Reuters
