Policy that let federal employees use preferred bathroom formally overturned by Trump administration

The Trump administration on Friday officially rescinded policy that let individuals use restrooms in federal facilities that align with their gender identity. 

Specifically, the General Services Administration issued a notification of rescission regarding a 2016 bulletin that specified sex discrimination under federal civil rights law covered gender identity. The bulletin applied to buildings under the jurisdiction of the agency, which manages properties the government owns and leases. 

GSA said the rescission is in line with an Inauguration Day executive order that it’s U.S. policy to recognize two sexes and requires agencies to ensure “intimate spaces” for women and men are designated by sex rather than identity. 

“[The EO] states that gender ideology embraces the belief that there are genders disconnected from the sex that one is assigned at birth. Accordingly, the EO directs agencies to promptly remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements…or other messages,” according to Friday’s notice. 

The American Medical, Psychiatric and Psychological associations all say that gender is a spectrum rather than a binary consisting of men and women. 

As the Trump administration seeks to prevent trans and non-binary federal employees from using their preferred bathroom, one such individual is suing over the issue. 

LeAnne Withrow, a civilian employee of the Illinois National Guard, on Monday filed a class action challenging Trump's EO and associated agency policies. The lawsuit is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward. 

 “Since coming out nearly a decade ago, the fact that I’m transgender has had no negative impact on my abilities as a worker and has caused no disruption or disturbance among my colleagues or supervisors,” Withrow said in a statement. “This policy would put a needless barrier between my work on behalf of military families, forcing me to choose between my service to this country and my own dignity. I love my work and want nothing to come between me and the people I serve. I’m hopeful the courts will see through this blatant effort to push people like me out of the federal workforce.”

The class action points to Bostock v. Clayton County, a 2020 Supreme Court decision that employers can’t discriminate against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

The Defense Department recently ordered approximately 1,000 trans service members to leave the military, just two days after the Supreme Court authorized Trump’s ban to take effect while litigation against it proceeds.