Transgender Inmate Can Sue for Hair Treatments
By ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/24/43300.htm (CN) - Prison officials may have violated a transgender inmate's constitutional rights by refusing to comply with doctors' orders about laser hair removal treatments, a federal judge ruled.
Christine Alexander, a biological male who identifies as female, was diagnosed in 2003 with Gender Identity Disorder, a controversial clinical name approved by the American Psychiatric Association.
Since that time, Alexander has received hormone replacement therapy and psychological counseling while incarcerated at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk.
Because Alexander also "suffers from facial and body hair, and male pattern baldness," several doctors have prescribed laser hair removal and finasteride, the generic name for Rogaine or Propecia, to "enhance patient's progress towards feminization," according to a court summary.
