Mass. Gov. Patrick speaks out on Kosilek case

[Shana A]

Mass. Gov. Patrick speaks out on Kosilek case
September 27, 2012, 12:53 pm
(NECN: Justin Michaels, Cambridge, Mass.) - 

www.necn.com/09/27/12/Mass-Gov-Patrick-speaks-out-on-Kosilek-c/landing.html?blockID=780067

It's something everyone has an opinion about.

Should convicted murderer Robert Kosilek be granted a sex change surgery on the taxpayers dime after, while in prison for the murder of his wife, he self-identified as a woman, began hormone treatments, and changed his name to Michelle?

And public opinion on this matter is also, for most part, clear. It's that the state shouldn't be footing the bill. Still, public opinion and the constitutionality of a decision are very different things.

We caught up with Mass. Gov. Deval  Patrick at an event in Cambridge.

And the governor, though not a supporter of the surgery, does caution people that the decision made by the judge to grant the surgery, was well thought out and is well-supported by the constitution.

But so is the appeal by the department of corrections.

"It's a constitutional question and a serious one," Patrick said. "But I think the department of corrections wisely and appropriately balanced the responsibility to provide necessary medical care to an inmate  to providing that inmate and others appropriate safety."

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Massachusetts Gov. Patrick Appealing Transgender Inmate's Landmark Ruling
Posted by Justin Snow |
September 27, 2012 5:15 PM

http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2012/09/massachusetts-gov-patrick-appealing-transgender-in.html

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is facing criticism from the LGBT community after announcing his administration will appeal a federal court's ruling earlier this month that the state must pay for sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender prison inmate.

In September, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf ruled that Michelle Kosilek is entitled to the surgery under the Eighth Amendment protecting her from cruel and unusual punishment.

"This fact that sex reassignment surgery is for some people medically necessary has recently become more widely recognized," Wolf wrote in a 129-page ruling issued on Sept. 4. Moreover, he ruled it was the "constitutional duty" of the Department of Corrections to grant her the surgery.

But according to the Patrick administration, Kosilek, who has been given hormone treatments, has already been provided adequate medical treatments.

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Deval Patrick Administration Sides Against Trans Inmate on Need for Surgery
BY Lucas Grindley
September 27 2012 4:42 PM ET

http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2012/09/27/deval-patrick-administration-sides-against-trans-inmate-need-surgery

Yet another important fixture of Massachusetts politics is siding against a trans inmate who wants gender-reassignment surgery.

Both U.S. Senate candidates from the state, Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown, reacted with condemnation when a U.S. district judge ruled that a convicted murderer, Michelle Kosilek, should be allowed gender-reassignment surgery, which would be paid for by the state that has incarcerated her.

Now Gov. Deval Patrick's administration is also siding against Kosilek, with the Department of Correction announcing it will appeal the judge's decision.