Transgeder Females in Women's Prisons

"Throughout their sentence, offenders may apply for a voluntary transfer to a men's or a women's institution according to their gender identity or expression."

"[All transfers are assessed on a case-by-case basis with the Deputy Commissioner for Women having the final decision-making capability]."

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) 

 

"In each specific factual context, CD 100 has been implemented in good faith and consistent with the principles of fundamental justice, including not being arbitrary, overbroad, or grossly inappropriate."

"[The government] wholly denies that any alleged harm to inmates housed in women's institutions flowed from the implementation of CD 100."

Government of Canada 

 

"Female inmates are being exposed to real risks and real harm."

"This case is about protecting their safety, dignity and constitutional rights."

Chris Fleury, constitutional lawyer 

Photo credit: Leah Hennel

 

Canada's federal government filed a statement of defence in a constitutional challenge to Correctional Service Canada's "gender diverse" policy permitting some inmates' transfer on request to women's prisons. One inmate, according to the filing, was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment, following a female inmate filing a complaint in May of 2020. That inmate was also charged as an instigator in five  other incidents committed against three female inmates.

 

Additionally, a female inmate filed a complaint in October of 2024, leading to a charge of two counts of sexual assault. That inmate was identified in another incident. When particulars in the charges were demanded, the plaintiff spoke of 45 women who had been affected, whom she identified, in 59 incidents of harm. The government responded that "insufficient particulars were provided to allow Canada to respond".

 

Ten of the remaining 14 claims took place at Grand Valley Institution for Women, located in Kitchener Ontario, while three occurred at Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia and one other took place at the Okimaw Ohei Healing Lodge in Saskatchewan, on the Nekaneet First Nation. A police investigation took place in 2018 with no charges being laid; there was a 2019 report of sexual assault, and finally, a complaint in 2021 alleging sexual and physical assault.

 

Prison facility (Courtesy of Stocker)

 

Correctional Service of Canada's Commissioner's Directive 100: Gender Diverse Offenders, was implicated in the constitutional challenge against the federal government, brought by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms in 2025. In May of 2022 CSC introduced the policy on "gender diverse" offenders. The Investigative Journalism Bureau found that between 2017 and 2025, 57 transgender women had made 129 requests for transfer to a women's prison.

 

Of those requests, 35 were approved. There were 90 transgender women in federal prison by October 2025, 73 located in men's prisons and 17 accommodated in women's prisons. Of that number, eight had undergone gender-affirming surgery. Funded by the JCCF, lawyers brought the lawsuit on behalf of Canadian Women's Sex-Based Rights, with the argument that allowing transgender inmates to be housed in women's prisons exposes female inmates to potential physical and psychological harms, violating their Charter rights.

 

Constitutional lawyer Chris Fleury, in a JCCF news release, stated that the defence used by the government indicates that serious complaints have been raised by female inmates regarding their experiences in women's prisons. The government has been revealed to have responded to claims involving 13 gender-diverse inmates alleged to have "taken and will continue to take, advantage of CD 100."  No specific allegations were provided for four of the inmates -- "It is their mere presence in a women's institution that is alleged to cause harm to cisgender female inmates". 

 

Correctional facility (Courtesy of Jeffrey Zalesny)

 

"Men Punching Women"

"At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat."

"So. it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category."

"In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe."

Kirsty Coventry, IOC president

 

"We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female."

"It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology."

Seb Coe, president, World Athletics Organization 

 

"[Concerning the IOC's] decision regarding transgender women athletes, integrity and fairness [in sport concerns us, as well as] equal opportunities and respecting human rights [above all] empathy, respect and care [for all Canadians]."

"Our government believes in a sport system that provides opportunities for all Canadians, including the transgender community, to participate in sport and excel without discrimination."

"[The Liberal Carney government is reviewing] the impact of this decision on Canadian athletes."

Adam van Koeverden, Sports Minister, Canada 

University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas speaks to her coach after winning the 500 meter freestyle during an NCAA college swimming meet with Harvard on January 22, 2022.

Josh Reynolds/AP 

 

"The introduction of new rules restricting participation in women's sport categories to 'biological females', determined through mandatory genetic screening and testing, imposes exclusionary criteria."

Canadian Civil Liberties Association  

Somehow, women's rights got lost in the shuffle of transactivism's aggressive marketing propaganda that entitled biological males who declared their 'true' gender to be female, challenging women on the sports fields and through alpha competitions where those born female are told to just take a breath and carry on, faced with the prospect of going up against a male competitor called 'her'. All the physical attributes of biological males in strength and endurance though dressed in a skirt rallied against the less physical inheritance of females. Lap it up, kitten.

 

Finally, however, with the courage of a few elite female sport figures having the audacity to  point out the unfairness and degradation of women's rights that have been deleteriously impacted for much too long a period of public/social compliance with the assertions of a gender-compliant entitlement programs that victimize women, the tide is turning. It did help when a smattering of male sport coaches allied themselves with female competitors in their campaign for recognition of women's rights.

 

So now, the International Olympic Committee has made it legally binding in their declaration that only 'biological females' will  henceforth be permitted to compete in t he women's category. Trust the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to add its two-cents-worth opinion that the very term "biological females" represents a "problematical term". Much, one suspects, as does the mockery in all seriousness of speaking of "pregnant persons".

 

A "once-in-a-lifetime" sex test under the IOC's new policy would ensure that females only may now compete in the female category. Transgender women to be banned from female competition. As for those  in conditions of sexual development deviations, they too are outlawed from female competitions.  The field of female sports competition narrowed down to its most elemental and sensible condition of 'females-only', thank you very much.

 

A saliva cheek swab or blood sample test for the SRY gene is to be administered: "The presence of the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development", stated the IOC in explaining the reason for and the test thereof, of the vital new criteria. 

 

The World Athletics organization was first to introduce gene testing in the female category. When Algerian Imane Khelif won the women's welterweight gold medal for boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the controversy that erupted was telling, when a followup revelation reached the news that a DNA test revealed Khelif to be a biological male with XY chromosomes. 

 

Imane Khelif of Algeria (left) defeated Liu Yang of China to win Olympic gold in the women's 66-kilogram boxing event.  Maja Hitij/Getty Images

"I think it’s a shame that birth sex, or the gender you were assigned or thought to be at birth, is so enshrined in our legal and registration systems."

"Getting a gender marker formally changed on official records, identification, etc. can be a long and complicated process, requiring proof of surgery in some states, and even when a transgender person does succeed in getting a gender marker change, the marker can still put them at risk."

Sasha Carney, 24, transgender activist 

"What she [J.K. Rowling] said..."

"[The IOC decision is a] welcome return to fair sport for women and girls, but I'll never forget the scandal of Paris 2024, when people who consider themselves virtuous and progressive publicly cheered on men punching women."

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre  

 

The Final Obstacle

"It appears that [uterus transplantation] in transgender female patients will soon become a reality, and so we must pre-emptively plan for the challenge that these parents will face."

"De-gendering [legal parenthood] may be the simplest and most ethical solution."

"If there is no clear purpose or benefit to designating a parent as a mother or a father, then why do we need it at all? The ultimate goal should be to provide a child with unconditional love and care from their guardians, regardless of gender or title."

"Most did not have children prior to transitioning  and expressed a desire to have children in the future."

Cleveland Clinic transplant team, Ohio

 

"If this is something that's available to humans, it should be available to all humans."

"[From a philosophical, feminist perspective uterus transplants in general are] really troubling. Is that what makes us women, having a uterus? There are many cisgender women who don't have a uterus but they're still women."

"Woman is an identity that you have. Having gender affirming treatment doesn't make you genetically female. You're still an XY person, you're not XX."

"[Many women would sympathize with a trans woman's] longing and desire to experience pregnancy [but a level of medical danger arises]."

"People have lost circulation in their legs and had to have the uterus removed so they didn't lose their legs."

"There have been a lot of adverse outcomes that the public doesn't know about."

Gwendolyn Quinn, bioethicist, professor, New York University School of Medicine, member American Society of Reproductive Medicine ethics committee

This unnamed girl was the first baby born in the US from a womb that had been donated from a deceased woman, herself a mother, back in 2019

The final horizon, bearing children for those whose gender has been chosen other than their physical presentation at birth. Transplantation of a uterus, placing a womb within the body of a person born male.
An editorial published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility speaks of a number of medical teams "actively working" on uterine transplants for transgender women. Speculation is that the first such procedure is likely to occur "within the next few years, if not sooner."

The first surgical transplantation team to transplant a uterus from a deceased donor to a woman born lacking a uterus were the authors of a new paper where they note that should anatomical challenges in transgender women be overcome, uterus transplants would enable trans women to gestate and give birth. By caesarean section. It can be envisioned that a transgender man could conceivably donate his uterus -- who no longer needs it as a male, discarding the ultimate female biological characteristic.

Hypothetically, a transgender woman with a uterus transplant to carry a pregnancy could choose to conceive with her very own frozen sperm; somewhat bizarre, but possible. To the present an estimated 80 womb transplants from ten countries have been undertaken. The first baby born after a uterine transplant, took place in 2014 in Sweden. Since then, over 35 healthy babies have been conceived and delivered. Surgeons seem to believe that anatomical challenges in transgender women are not insurmountable.

It took decades of research and experiments before the first womb transplant was undertaken. The operation is a marathon of 12 hours or more. Donor wombs are retrieved from either a living or a brain-dead donor, along with the blood vessels on the uterus sides, then the organ stitched into a recipient. Some women are born without a uterus or with one that is unable to sustain a pregnancy. 

The first to publish an ethical framework to help move womb transplants from the experimental stage in animals to humans was by Canadian researchers. Called the Montreal Criteria for the Ethical Feasibility of Uterine Transplantation, it stipulates the recipient of a transplanted uterus must be a "genetic female of reproductive age". The male pelvis is narrower than a female's not designed to nurture and carry a child to birth. 

Yet, as Dr. Hamidian Jahromi points out, both male and female have similar vascular anatomies; both men and women have iliac arteries to carry blood to the lower extremities including the pelvis and reproductive organs. With its attached blood vessels, the donor womb could be connected to vessels in the trans woman's pelvis. A vaginal passage would be required constructed during gender-affirming surgery with artificial hormones to mimic the hormonal environment required.

Under 'normal' circumstnces such transplants are temporary; removed following the birth of two children. This, so that women with transplanted wombs need no longer be tethered to anti-rejection drugs for as long as the transplant remains in place. The 'risk-benefit'  ratio "is unclear and potentially worrisome" for trans or ciswomen wishing to retain the presence of transplanted wombs indefinitely.

 

"Everything that you need for a successful uterine transplant is present in the transgender women, too."

"Imagine you have a male gender identity. For them it's very gender dysphoric if they undergo menstruation."

"[Part of feeling feminine for a transgender woman] has been the capability of becoming pregnant, and having their biological child of their own."

"That's part of what makes a woman a woman, although I appreciate not every cisgender female wants to be pregnant or have a baby. But this is the right they have."

Dr.Alireza Hamidian Jahromi, director, Gender Affirmation Surgery Center, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia

Fair Play and May the Best WoMAN Win!

"[Players] should be able to participate as the gender with which they identify and not be subject to requirements for disclosure of personal information beyond those required of cisgender athletes. Nor should there be any requirement for hormonal therapy or surgery."

Rugby Canada Guidelines for player inclusion: "I identify as female"

 

"She's [trans rugby player Kelly Morgan, 6' tall] going to be a good, good player for the next few years, as long as we can stop her injuring players in training."

founder, U.K. rugby team

 

"I do feel guilty, but what can you do? I don't go out to hurt anybody. I just want to play rugby." 

"I'm always optimistic and I think being open breaks the ice with people. I'm like, 'this is me, this is what I'm going through'." 

"Times are changing. Hopefully I'll inspire more people to come and play rugby, or any sort of sport."

Kelly Morgan/Nicholas Gareth Morgan, transgender rugby player

'If you can't take the mick out of yourself, then what's the point?'

 The World Rugby association investigated the harms women are vulnerable to in contact sports under inclusion rules, bringing together professional experts in the study of biology, sociology and kinesiology for the purpose of updating eligibility standards for player inclusion. The consultation committee based its study and conclusions on data the Karolinska Institute of medical academic research, in Sweden had published.

 

And that data led them to conclude that even following IOC hormone reduction guidelines, genetically male athletes are on average 40 percent heavier, 15 percent faster, 30 percent more physically powerful and 25 to 50 percent stronger than are female athletes; enormous spreads that make a world of difference in the time, and distance measurements distinguishing gold from silver.  

Injury to female athletes tends to increase by 30 percent when paired against genetically male competitors. The World Rugby Council issued a resolution on October 9 with respect to transgender participation: "Transgender women may not play women's rugby", representing a first for a sport federation to go its separate way from the IOC on the issue.

Ice Hockey, rugby and ringette are recognized as the riskiest of sports among youth between the ages of five to 19, for brain injuries. Brain injuries account for 27 to 44 percent of all physical harms sustained during games. Yet it is the 'hurt feelings' that may result when "gender identity and gender expression" fail to be given the respect due them that appears to rate.

The safety issue, however, is paramount, or should be, in playing hard-contact sport. Female athletes who compete against genetically male athletes don't necessarily feel safe even in non-contact sports. Three female Connecticut high school runners launched a federal Title 1X lawsuit in reflection of the fact that over three competitive seasons from 2017 to 2019, two genetically male athletes won gold and silver in 15 women's state championship titles.

The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights agreed that Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire's transgender sports and inclusion policy violated Title 1X prohibiting discrimination in educational programs and activities on the basis of sex. This was a resolution of a civil rights claim brought by Concerned Women for America. The upshot was that FPU agreed to "rescind its Transgender Participation and Inclusion Policy and will cease any and all practices related thereto".

The complaint originated when transathlete CeCe Telfer competed in the 400m hurdles on the men's team in 2015 and 2017, ranking 390th in NCAA Division 2, then in 2018 he self-identified as a woman and became eligible to compete against women according to NCAA rules. He won the women's national championship in June 2020. His win was ascribed by his coach to attitude: "I've never met anyone as strong as her mentally in my life".

 

CeCe Telfer

Screengrab via Twitter/ NCAA Division II

"But there are all these disadvantages of competing in the 100 hurdles, you know?"

"First of all, my height, how tall I am, is a disadvantage, because the wind is hitting us so hard and the taller you are, the harder you fall, basically. There’s wind resistance."  

"[Another disadvantage:] The fact that the hurdles are so close. [smaller in women’s competition; six inches shorter than in men’s races, but more than half a meter closer together]."

“And there are people who say I have the benefit of testosterone. But no: I have no benefit. I’m on hormone suppression, it doesn’t help. It’s another disadvantage. Cis women are producing more testosterone than the average trans female."

"So it’s crazy! I’m the crazy one, to be the weakest female, the weakest link in the chain, to be competing against the top ones. I should be fingered as the stupid one, for wanting to do that in the first place."

CeCe Telfer, transgender athlete

The IOC has allowed biological males since 2015, self-identifying as female for a year to compete in women's sport as long as they reduce their testosterone levels to 10 nmol/1, higher as it happens, than the female testosterone range of .54 to 2.4 nmol/1. So much for testosterone comparability. 

CeCe Telfer, center, as seen moments prior to the start of the 60M hurdles.

Screengrab/NCAA