ACLU Comment on Lawsuit Filed by 11 States Challenging Obama Administration Transgender Guidance

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — On behalf of six military families with students enrolled in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools, the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion for preliminary injunction seeking to declare DoDEA’s enforcement of executive orders resulting in classroom censorship unconstitutional. DoDEA, whose students lead the United States in math and reading proficiency scores, operates 161 schools across 11 countries, seven states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The demand for an injunction was filed on behalf of 12 students and their families, ranging from pre-K to 11th grade, who attend DoDEA schools as children of active duty servicemembers stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan. Since January, the plaintiffs’ schools have removed books, altered curricula, and canceled events that the current administration has accused of promoting “gender ideology” or “divisive equity ideology.” Censored items include materials about slavery, Native American history, women’s history, LGBTQ identities and history, and preventing sexual harassment and abuse, as well as portions of the Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology curriculum. “We make sacrifices as a military family so that my husband can defend the Constitution and the rights and freedoms of all Americans,” said Jessica Henninger, a plaintiff on behalf of her children in DoDEA schools. “If our own rights and the rights of our children are at risk, we have a responsibility to speak out. Despite the anxiety and uncertainty among DoDEA parents and students right now, we know that our children have a right to an education free from censorship, and we won't stand by silently and watch that right be taken away.” The new motion includes a list of 233 books alleged to have been quarantined or removed from shelves, including: “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee; “#MeToo: Women Speak Out Against Sexual Assault,” edited by the New York Times; “Looking for Alaska” by John Green; “Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip-Hop History” by Jeff Chang; “Generation Brave: The Gen Z Kids Who Are Changing the World” by Kate Alexander; and “Julián is a Mermaid” by Jessica Love. It includes further titles by acclaimed authors including Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, and Ta-Nehisi Coates. The vast majority of titles appear to be by or about women, people of color, or LGBTQ people. “These are American students in American schools, and they have the same First Amendment rights as their peers,” said Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Families in DoDEA schools have the right to access books about race and gender and the right to learn about the vibrantly diverse world around them. We owe it to these students to help them learn and grow, not stifle their age-appropriate exposure to ideas this administration happens to deem politically incorrect.” One DoDEA school canceled events honoring Juneteenth and Holocaust Remembrance Day, and another removed posters featuring Malala Yousafzai and Frida Kahlo. Families allege in the filings that their requests for information from DoDEA about what information has been removed or why have gone unanswered. “Classroom censorship has impacted our clients’ ability to prepare for AP exams, to learn about their neighbors and peers, and to see themselves in their curriculum,” said Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky. “And in DoDEA schools, which are some of the most diverse and high performing schools in the nation, the impact is magnified. This kind of political meddling is antithetical to the First Amendment.” “The Trump administration cannot violate the First Amendment by removing books and curricula it doesn’t like,” said Matt Callahan, senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Virginia. “Students have a right to see themselves reflected in their libraries and classrooms, and they also have a right to learn from the perspectives of people who aren’t like them. That’s no less true for military families than for anyone else.” The ACLU, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the ACLU of Virginia filed suit last month, arguing that DoDEA enforcement of three executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in January 2025 led to widespread violations of students’ First Amendment rights. The suit, and the motion for preliminary injunction, were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The motion can be viewed online here.

WASHINGTON - A civilian employee of the Illinois National Guard has filed a class action complaint to the Army National Guard Bureau Equal Opportunity Office (NGB-EO) challenging a Trump administration policy prohibiting transgender federal employees from using restrooms and other accommodations aligned with their gender. LeAnne Withrow of Springfield, Illinois, is a lead military and family readiness specialist and civilian employee for the Illinois National Guard. Previously, she served as a staff sergeant for the National Guard and is the recipient of multiple commendations and awards, including the Illinois National Guard Abraham Lincoln Medal of Freedom. Following a January 20 executive order signed by President Trump, officials with the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Defense, and the federal National Guard Bureau issued notices to all employees requiring use of designated restrooms strictly based upon their sex assigned at birth. Soon after, Withrow was instructed by supervisors within her chain of command that she may not use restrooms and other facilities designated for women. That order violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in employment. In a 2020 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States held 6-3 that Title VII prohibits discrimination against transgender workers on the basis of their sex. Today’s class action filing challenges the executive order and ensuing implementation actions with violating Title VII as well as the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Administrative Procedures Act. The complaint was filed on behalf of Ms. Withrow by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of DC, the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU, 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,” said LeAnne Withrow, a civilian federal employee for the Illinois National Guard. “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.” “Let’s be clear–if you cannot use the bathroom at work, you cannot go to work,” said Shana Knizhnik, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Transgender federal workers across the federal government are facing an intentional effort to drive them out of the workforce and out of public life by an administration with no shortage of hostility towards them and their identities. We look forward to making this case to the agency and will do everything we can to ensure all federal workers are treated equally and fairly regardless of who they love or who they are.” “This case is about people. Targeting transgender people is both unlawful and a dangerous example by our federal government. Democracy Forward is honored to work with LeAnne and our partners in this case to defend transgender people from hateful and harmful bigotry,” said Democracy Forward Legal Director Audrey Wiggins. “This policy is part of a national campaign to push transgender people out of public life,” said Michael Perloff, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU-D.C. “It’s discrimination pure and simple and it has no place in our law or our society.” “Illinois has rejected the senseless, reckless discrimination against transgender people that is the hallmark of the Trump Administration,” said Michelle Garcia, Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU of Illinois. “As a proud, vital member of the Illinois National Guard, who has served our state and this country honorably and proudly, neither LeAnne nor any other federal employee should be forced to use a restroom that is inconsistent with their gender identity.” Today’s complaint filed to the National Guard Bureau Equal Opportunity Office can be found here.

BOSTON – The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Covington & Burling LLC filed motions for class certification and preliminary classwide relief today in their lawsuit challenging the State Department’s refusal to issue passports with accurate sex designations for trans, intersex, and nonbinary American citizens. The new filing follows a federal court ruling finding that an executive order by President Trump and the passport policy implementing that order are likely unconstitutional and unlawful. The court’s preliminary injunction requires the State Department to issue updated passports to six transgender and nonbinary people who are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The new filings ask the court to certify a class of people adversely affected by the State Department policy and to extend this relief nationwide to the entire class so that other transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people can receive accurate passports. “The court’s finding that this policy is likely unconstitutional and unlawful holds just as true for our class members as it does for our plaintiffs, and we are asking the court to expand its preliminary injunction to protect the rights of all transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project. “By forcing people to carry documents that directly contradict their identities, the Trump administration is attacking the very foundations of the right to privacy and the freedom to be ourselves,” said Jessie Rossman, Legal Director at ACLU of Massachusetts. “It is important that every person has the ability to live and travel safely, and we will continue to fight to rescind this unlawful policy to make sure that this relief extends to everyone.” On his first day in office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order attempting to mandate discrimination against transgender people across the federal government and government programs. This included a directive to the Departments of State and Homeland Security “to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards” reflect their sex “at conception.” Under the ensuing passport policy, the State Department began refusing to issue new, renewed, or changed passports with a sex designation other than what the State Department believed to be their sex assigned at birth regardless of the sex designation applied for. Over 214,000 public comments in opposition to the State Department’s new policy were collected by the ACLU and Advocates for Transgender Equality. In February 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Covington and Burling LLP filed the Orr v. Trump class action complaint on behalf of seven people who have not been able to obtain passports that match who they are because of the State Department’s new passport policy or who are likely to be impacted by the new policy upon their next renewal. The complaint was filed in the federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts. An amended complaint was filed on April 25, adding five named plaintiffs seeking to represent the class along with the seven plaintiffs named in the original complaint.