Transgender inmates freed from hormone lockdown
A Wisconsin law banning gender therapy is overturned
By Sady Doyle
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/04/02/transgender_hormone_prison/A Wisconsin law banning transgender inmates from receiving taxpayer-funded hormone therapy in prison has been struck down. The ruling represents a substantial victory for the five transgender women (that is, women born with "male" genitalia who identify and live as female) who pressed the case, and for transgender inmates in general -- but experts stressed to Broadsheet that having access to hormone therapy is not the only serious issue facing incarcerated trans people.
In a phone interview, Harper Jean Tobin, the National Center for Transgender Equality's policy counsel, explained there's a growing recognition that "hormone therapy is medically necessary for transgender people. It's not cosmetic, it's a serious medical need." That much is apparent from looking at the case: Andrea Fields, one of the plaintiffs in the case, had her hormone dosage cut in half, and reported "nausea, weakness, loss of appetite and hair growth," as the Washington Post reports.
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Wisc.: Trans Prisoners Can Receive Treatment
By Michelle Garcia
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/04/01/Wisconsin_Trans_Prisoners_Can_Receive_Treatment/A federal court ruled on Wednesday that transgender prisoners serving time must be allowed to continue hormone treatments in Wisconsin prisons.
The Wisconsin legislature passed a law, effective January 2006, which barred prison doctors from administering or prescribing hormone treatment or gender reassignment surgery for transgender people while in state custody.
