Trump admin closes Biden-era disability law loophole used to let males inmates in women's prisons

The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday published a final rule that clarified that gender dysphoria not resulting from physical impairments does not qualify as a disability under federal law.

The rule clarified and closed a loophole in the preamble of a 2024 rule, which suggested that gender dysphoria could qualify as a disability, although the rule itself was silent on the issue. 

For years "the federal government advanced an interpretation of disability law that has been used to elevate gender identity claims over the concerns of incarcerated women, permitting dangerous men into women’s prisons," the Independent Women's Forum said, applauding the rule change.

"The action addresses a legal controversy with significant implications for sex-seperated facilities, including women’s prisons, where disability discrimination claims have been raised by transgender-identifying male inmates to access women’s facilities," it said.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights said the final rule is in relation to disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and applies to all programs and activities that receive HHS funding. Section 504 prohibits programs and activities that receive federal funding from discriminating against individuals based on their disability.

“My uncle Ted Kennedy was the primary author of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1978 amendments that strengthened the Rehabilitation Act," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a statement. "The Biden-era pronouncements that indicated gender dysphoria may be a disability served the commercial interests of a predatory, multi-billion-dollar industry and betrayed the original intention of those laws.

“Congress defined which conditions qualify for protection as disabilities under federal law, and HHS has a duty to faithfully apply the law as written," he continued. "This final rule restores clarity to our regulations, respects the distinctions Congress established, and ensures that HHS administers Section 504 according to its statutory text. 

"The Trump Administration will continue to bring transparency, accountability, and fidelity to the law back to federal policymaking," he added.

The rule was first proposed by the Trump administration last year and clarified that the preamble to a federal rule has no force or effect of law and that the regulation itself did not address gender dysphoria.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.