A transgender employee of the National Security Agency is suing the Trump administration, aiming to block a presidential executive order and other policies that she asserts violate federal civil rights law.
Sarah O’Neill, an NSA data scientist, is contesting an executive order from President Donald Trump issued on his Inauguration Day, which mandates the federal government recognize only two sexes: male and female, dismissing all other gender identities.
In her lawsuit submitted Monday in a U.S. District Court in Maryland, O’Neill alleges that Trump’s policy effectively erases her identity and existence as a transgender individual.
The executive order has incited a series of policies at the NSA that O’Neill also challenges, including the cancellation of a policy that previously acknowledged her gender identity and right to a harassment-free workplace.
O’Neill claims the NSA now prohibits her from using female pronouns in written communication and bars her from utilizing the women’s restroom in the workplace.
The lawsuit argues that these policies foster a hostile work environment and violate Section VII of the Civil Rights Act regarding discrimination based on sex. This follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that clarified Section VII includes protections for gender identity.
O’Neill states, The Executive Order rejects the existence of gender identity altogether, mitigating the acknowledgment of differing identities from biological sex, referring to it instead as 'gender ideology.' In addition to seeking the restoration of her workplace rights, she is also pursuing financial damages.
Trump's executive order is part of a broader trend of executive actions that his administration has adopted since taking office, leading to numerous legal challenges that are still being processed in the federal judicial system.
