A transgender employee of the National Security Agency (NSA), Sarah O’Neill, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block the enforcement of a presidential executive order and related policies that she claims infringe upon federal civil rights law. O’Neill, who works as a data scientist at the NSA, is challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order issued on Inauguration Day, which mandates that the federal government recognize only two “immutable” sexes: male and female, thereby denying the existence of non-binary and transgender identities.
The lawsuit, filed on a Monday in a U.S. District Court in Maryland, argues that Trump’s executive order effectively denies O’Neill's identity. She claims it asserts a policy in which the U.S. government disregards her very existence as a transgender individual. The White House has not yet responded to requests for comments regarding the lawsuit.
The executive order, which has been linked to Trump’s 2024 campaign rhetoric, has led to further policies that O’Neill also contests. Since the enactment of the executive order, she asserts that the NSA has rescinded its previous policies that recognized her transgender identity and her right to a workplace free from unlawful harassment. Furthermore, the NSA has prohibited her from identifying her pronouns as female in written communications and has barred her from using the women’s restroom at work.
O’Neill contends that these policies foster a hostile work environment and violate Section VII of the Civil Rights Act. This section prohibits discrimination based on sex, and a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2020 established that this prohibition extends to discrimination based on gender identity as well. The Supreme Court’s majority opinion affirmed that while homosexuality and transgender status are distinct concepts, discrimination based on these identities inherently involves discrimination based on sex.
In her lawsuit, O’Neill highlights that the executive order actively rejects the existence of gender identity and portrays it as “gender ideology.” As part of her legal action, she is seeking to restore her workplace rights and protections, as well as pursue financial damages due to the distress and harm caused by these policies.
This executive order was one of a series of actions President Trump took shortly after assuming office, showcasing a decisive stance on various policy issues. Over the years, he has continued to utilize executive actions to push his administration’s agenda, resulting in numerous legal challenges that remain unresolved in the federal judiciary.
