On November 17, 2021, we filed a civil rights lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in response to SB 132, their policy of housing based on claimed “gender identity” instead of sex.

In January, California’s “Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act” (SB 132) went into effect, allowing men to seek transfer to women’s prison facilities based entirely on their claim that they don’t have an exclusively male “gender identity.” Men are eligible for transfer regardless of whether they have had surgery on their genitals, have taken hormones, or been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Several hundred men have already requested transfer, and dozens of male inmates have already been moved into women’s facilities, including men who have committed heinous violent and sexual crimes against women and children. At this point, no request has been denied.

We allege that housing incarcerated women with male offenders violates their constitutional rights, including:

1. The First Amendment right to free speech, free exercise of religion, to petition the government, and against the state establishment of a religion;

2. The Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment; and

3. The Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law. 

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(Learn more about the case here)