Navy facility agrees to comply with Trump order protecting women's spaces

A facility operated by the U.S. Navy has agreed to comply with a directive from the Trump administration that prohibits trans-identified males from entering women’s private spaces after receiving a letter from a religious liberty law firm.

In a statement published Tuesday, the nonprofit law firm Liberty Counsel announced that the Navy Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, will follow a February 2025 directive that establishes federal policy to “recognize two sexes, male and female, that are not changeable.”

The directive also orders all Navy entities to ensure that sex-segregated intimate spaces are “designated by sex, not gender identity, on installations, facilities, ships and any other infrastructure under the jurisdiction of the DON.”

The NUWC informed Liberty Counsel that it is following the directive, adding that “employees who do not follow management direction regarding intimate spaces could be subject to disciplinary action.” The NUWC’s response came after the law firm sent two demand letters to the Navy institution on behalf of a female employee with the Department of the Navy who said she was required to share a restroom with two trans-identified males.

The employee reported to her superiors that one of the trans-identified males was using the women’s restroom, saying she felt “unsafe” because the individual spent time fixing his hair and “giggling at the mirror in a weird way.” Liberty Counsel said that at the time of the encounter, which reportedly took place in February, the NUWC allowed trans-identified males to use women’s spaces because of guidance from the local Equal Opportunity Office.

In its demand letter to NUWC, Liberty Counsel informed the Navy entity that “usage of restroom facilities in privacy, safety, and in accord with sincerely held religious beliefs are all rights that belong to women, in all workplace environments, including the women in the Department of the Navy and elsewhere in the federal workplaces.” 

“We commend the Trump administration for its directive protecting women,” said Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver. “Biology is fixed at birth and giving legal credence to fiction undermines the law and causes chaos and significant harm. Restricting male access to women’s restrooms is an act in preservation of the rights of women.” 

As highlighted by Liberty Counsel, the Department of the Navy’s directive follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump during his first week in office, making it official U.S. policy acknowledging that there are only two genders and defining sex as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.” The order also states that the term “is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity.’”

The presence of men in women’s spaces has led to safety and privacy concerns for women. In 2022, a group of female swimmers at the University of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against the school after they were forced to share a locker room with trans-identified male swimmer Lia (Will) Thomas. Thomas competed on the men’s swimming team for three years before switching to the women’s team. 

The female athletes maintained that Thomas’ presence in the locker room caused “extreme discomfort” because he “still has male body parts and is attracted to women.” The controversy over Thomas using women’s locker rooms came a year after Loudoun County, Virginia, made national headlines after a trans-identified male student sexually assaulted a female student in a girls’ bathroom at one of the school district’s high schools. 

The Loudoun County incident took place as the school district was considering implementing a policy allowing trans-identified students to use sex-segregated spaces that align with their stated gender identity rather than their biological sex. School district officials assured parents that no such assault had taken place as they expressed concern about the policy, prompting allegations of a cover-up.