Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and Democracy Forward, on behalf of their client FreeState Justice, filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in FreeState Justice v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, seeking to restore federal workplace discrimination protections for transgender workers. 

The original suit challenged the EEOC’s refusal to investigate all charges of discrimination and harassment filed by transgender workers. In June 2026, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted the EEOC’s motion to dismiss the case, finding that while FreeState’s allegations are “deeply troubling,” the agency maintains discretion over which charges it investigates. 

“We’re nearly two years into an administration that has actively made it harder for transgender workers to assert their rights,” said Lauren Khouri,senior director of workplace equality at NWLC. “The EEOC should not be able to pick and choose which workers deserve to be protected by federal law. The agency’s refusal to consider discrimination complaints from people the Trump administration disfavors should shock the conscience, and it is part of a larger pattern of undermining civil rights enforcement for everyone. The trans community is resilient, but they deserve better. That’s why NWLC is sticking with this case. We will continue to fight on behalf of FreeState and trans workers everywhere.”

Between January and July of last year, the EEOC moved to dismiss at least seven active lawsuits involving transgender and non-binary workers, stopped processing many discrimination and harassment complaints involving gender identity, and instructed staff to classify such complaints as meritless. This practice has continued into 2026, following Trump-Vance administration directives, including Executive Order 14168, which strips away protections for transgender people across the federal government. 

“Policies like the EEOC’s undermine the law and endanger people. They force LGBTQI+ people and other marginalized communities to choose between their job and being true to who they are,” said Lauren Pruitt, Legal Director at FreeState Justice. “These harms show up in the daily lives of the communities we serve through our legal work, who are being pushed further into the margins. We will continue to fight back because no one should have to live in fear of discrimination or retribution just to go to work.” 

“The Trump-Vance administration cannot exclude people from the protections of federal civil rights law,” said Sarah Goetz, Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward. “Congress did not give the EEOC discretion to turn away people it is required by law to protect. Transgender workers are entitled to the same protections under the law as anyone else, and that obligation does not change from one administration to the next. Our team at Democracy Forward is proud to represent FreeState Justice alongside our partners to ensure that our civil rights laws are defended fairly and applied consistently for everyone.”

NWLC and Democracy Forward are appealing because Title VII could not be clearer: the EEOC is required to process all charges of discrimination it receives, regardless of who the filer is. That is the law as Congress wrote it, and the district court was wrong to conclude otherwise. The EEOC’s new and troubling contrary stance violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection guarantee, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. 

To speak with an expert about this appeal, please contact [email protected]. 

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