Trump bans self identifying transgenders from women's prisons

President Donald Trump has ordered federal prisons to house inmates who "identify" as transgender women in men’s facilities and halt medical treatments related to gender transition.

The move was part of a wide-ranging executive order issued by Trump on his first day in office meant to limit government recognition of an individual’s gender to their sex at birth.

The order calls for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and policies such as federal prison assignments.

The directive on prisoners also applies to immigration detainees and is among the more concrete parts of the order.

Trump’s order says it is intended to protect women’s spaces from those who self-identify as women.

Trump had also set some restrictions on housing and health care for transgender prisoners in his previous term.

The order contains specific details on how it should apply in federal prisons, which house nearly 2,300 transgender inmates about 1.5 percent of the total population.

During his election campaign, Donald Trump vowed to "keep men out of women's sports."

Republicans at all levels campaigned on the issue in November's election, with a particular focus on transgender women participating in school sports.

Trump pledged during his campaign to restrict gender-affirming care and transgender sports participation.

"With the stroke of my pen on day one, we are going to stop the transgender lunacy," Trump said last month in Phoenix, Arizona, as he promised to end what he termed "child sexual mutilation," remove transgender individuals from military service, and eliminate transgender topics from elementary, middle, and high school education.

He reiterated his administration's stance on gender: "Under the Trump administration, it will be the official policy of the US government that there are only two genders, male and female. Doesn’t sound too complicated, does it?"

"And we will keep men out of women’s sports. And that will likewise be done on day one. Should I do day one, day two, or day three? How about day one, right?" he told the crowd.