As a result of several demand letters from Liberty Counsel, a U.S. Navy warfare center in Rhode Island is requiring two men who claim to be women to stop using female restrooms and use facilities according to their sex. 

According to ALNAV 017/25, a February 2025 message directed to all U.S. Navy units, the policy of the United States is to “recognize two sexes, male and female, that are not changeable.” The message implements President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The ALNAV message further directs all Navy entities “ensure” that “intimate single-sex spaces” defined in EO 14168 “are designated by sex and not gender identity” on “installations, facilities, ships, and any other infrastructure.”

At the Navy Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Newport Division, a female Department of the Navy employee recently reported unwanted encounters with two men claiming to be women who were using the women’s restroom. An encounter in February 2026 made the female employee feel “unsafe” as the man spent an inordinate amount of time seemingly fixing his hair and “giggling at the mirror in a weird manner.”

But this month, NUWC Newport Division confirmed to Liberty Counsel that it “follows” the ALNAV guidance and “employees who do not follow management direction regarding intimate spaces could be subject to disciplinary action.” 

Initially, NUWC Newport Division employees were erroneously advised by their local Equal Opportunity Office, contrary to Department of War policy, that individuals may use the restroom of the gender with which they identify. However, “these ill-informed statements contradict” applicable Executive Orders, official Navy guidance, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, wrote Liberty Counsel.   

 “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,” wrote Liberty Counsel.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “We commend the Trump administration for its directive protecting women. 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.”