Courts Uphold Transgender Inmates' Rights. Still Sucks To Be In Prison.
By: Dan Avery
On: Aug 5, 2011
http://www.queerty.com/courts-uphold-transgender-inmates-rights-still-sucks-to-be-in-prison-20110805/While prison is a harrowing experience for anyone—especially gender-nonconforming prisoners—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit gave trans inmates some respite today when it upheld their right to receive trans-related medical care while incarcerated. The ACLU and Lambda Legal had challenged a Wisconsin law that prohibited prison doctors from prescribing hormones or sex-reassignment surgery to transgender inmates.
"This was a discriminatory law that cruelly singled out transgender people by denying them—and only them—the medical care they need," said attorney John Knight of the ACLU's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project. "Too often the medical needs of transgender persons are not treated as the serious health issues that they are. We are glad that the appeals court has found that medical professionals, not the Wisconsin legislature, should make medical decisions for inmates."
