According to cbsnews.com, the settlement occurs after a transgender woman filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that she was obliged to live in men’s prisons and was subject to verbal and sexual harassment.

The agreement states that inmates will be placed “with a presumption that the inmate will be housed in line with their gender identity.” While the department is allowed to override the presumption for reasons including management, security or safety issues, the policy states that “under no circumstances will a transgender, intersex, or nonbinary inmate’s placement in line with their gender identity be considered a management or security problem solely due to their gender identity.”

Inmates will be housed in private cells while their housing arrangements are being determined and will have the ability to appeal and provide input on their housing decisions. Additionally, the inmates will be able to provide information about their gender identity to staff at any time while incarcerated.

The policy also states that harassment or discrimination against the gender identity of an inmate “is not acceptable under any circumstances,” and that staff will be required to honor inmates’ pronouns.

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Gender-affirming properties like undergarments will be provided, as will gender-affirming medical care. Transgender, intersex and nonbinary inmates will also have heightened protections for showering and searches.

Advocating for human rights

Jeanne LoCicero, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said in a statement that the agreement is a significant step toward the consolidation of full respect for imamates human rights.

“This policy is a start and addresses the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in state prisons. Communities across the state are paying attention to this moment in NJDOC’s history, and in partnership with them, we will continue working to reduce the number of people in prisons and jail, and advocating for the human rights of those who are incarcerated,” he said.

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In 2019, a transgender woman filed a civil rights lawsuit under the pseudonym Sonia Doe, citing ten counts of discrimination violations against the New Jersey Department of Corrections and its officers.

A new chapter

She alleged that while confined in four different men’s prisons over the course of 17 months, she experienced verbal and sexual harassment, including staff members explicitly telling her she was a man.

Attorney Robyn Gigl of Gluck Walrath LLP, who represented Sonia Doe with the ACLU-NJ, said that “having a policy that now explicitly recognizes the dignity of transgender, intersex, and non-binary people begins a new chapter at the DOC. While we know trans, intersex, and non-binary people still face extraordinary risk of harm, it is our hope that this policy will shepherd in a new era in New Jersey prisons of protecting and affirming transgender, intersex, and non-binary people’s lives.”

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Students and members of the educational community in the second state of the Union, appealed the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), because a state court ruled in favor of transgender people and their right to use the spaces according to the official identity they exhibit.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court ruling in favor of a Pennsylvania school district policy that allows some transgender students to use bathtrooms that match their gender identity.

The lawsuit was a challenge to the Pennsylvania school District’s policy that permits transgender students to use bathrooms according to their gender identity.

Opponents to this measure became plaintiffs and argued that the policy violates their privacy rights and constitutes sexual harassment in violation of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational institutions that receive federal funds.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs hold that “forcing a teenager to share a locker room or bathroom with a member of the opposite sex can cause embarrassment and distress”.

“The district’s policy was a drastic change from the way locker rooms and restrooms have been regulated for the entire history of public school systems,” the plaintiffs said.

According to the local press, lawyers who support the school district said the decision to allow transgender students to use facilities aligned with their gender identity is based on the district’s “belief that transgender students should have the right to use the school bathroom and locker facilities on the same basis as non-transgender students.”

They explained that the permission is not automatic, but that when a transgender student requests to use facilities that match his or her gender identity, they have “several conversations” with a guidance counselor.

The lawyers who obtained the favor of the U.S. Supreme Court, in the exercise of their defense within the explanatory statement, showed a photo of Aidan DeStefano, who graduated last year from one of the schools, and is a transgender man, to show why he does not belong in a bathroom that corresponds to the sex he was assigned at birth.

There are background guidelines during Barack Obama’s administration, when the Department of Education and Justice issued guidance to school districts and recommended that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that matched their gender identity.

 According to a report by CNN, President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew that guidance.

When it did so, a pending case involving a Virginia student, Gavin Grimm, was dismissed.

“This is the reversed case, brought not by a transgender student, but from students who object to sharing a bathroom with transgender individuals.” the news network said.

Translated by: José Espinoza

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