Transgender NSA Employee Sues Trump Administration Over Executive Order

Mon Dec 22 2025 21:38:56 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Sarah O’Neill, a transgender data scientist at the NSA, is suing the Trump administration to challenge a presidential executive order restricting recognition of gender identity, claiming it violates her civil rights.

In a significant legal battle, Sarah O’Neill, a transgender National Security Agency employee, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, aiming to block an executive order that strictly recognizes only two genders. This order, she argues, not only denies her existence but has also led to a toxic work environment by stripping away her rights and identity at work. O’Neill is seeking both the restoration of her workplace rights and financial damages, highlighting a growing scrutiny of policies affecting transgender individuals.

A transgender employee of the National Security Agency is suing the Trump administration and seeking to block enforcement of a presidential executive order and other policies the employee says violate federal civil rights law.

Sarah O’Neill, an NSA data scientist who is transgender, is challenging President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order that required the federal government, in all operations and printed materials, to recognize only two “immutable” sexes: male and female.

According to the lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. District Court in Maryland, Trump’s order “declares that it is the policy of the United States government to deny Ms. O’Neill’s very existence.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The order, which reflected Trump’s 2024 campaign rhetoric, spurred policies that O’Neill is challenging as well. Since Trump's initial executive action, O’Neill asserts that the NSA has cancelled its policy recognizing her transgender identity and “right to a workplace free of unlawful harassment,” while “prohibiting her from identifying her pronouns as female in written communications” and “barring her from using the women’s restroom at work.”

O’Neill contends those policies and the orders behind them create a hostile work environment and violate Section VII of the Civil Rights Act. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Section VII’s prohibition on discrimination based on sex applied to gender identity.

In addition to restoring her workplace rights and protections, O’Neill is seeking financial damages. Trump’s order was among a flurry of executive actions he took hours after taking office, which have continued to face legal challenges as they work their way through the federal judiciary.