Barney Frank Backing Appeal of Ruling Requiring Sex-Reassignment Surgery for Transgender Inmate
Posted by Justin Snow |
October 1, 2012 4:00 PM
http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2012/10/barney-frank-backing-appeal-of-ruling-requiring-se.htmlOut gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said today that he agrees with a decision by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) last week to appeal a federal court's September ruling that the state must pay for sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender prison inmate.
The U.S. District Court ruled that Michelle Kosilek, who is serving a life sentence without parole in a prison for males after strangling her wife to death in 1990, is entitled to the surgery under the Eighth Amendment protecting her from cruel and unusual punishment.
Speaking to Metro Weekly, Frank said the issue was not about Kosilek being transgendered, but that she is a convicted murderer.
"I think it should be clear she has a right to present herself as a woman, and that should be honored by the prison system," Frank said, but he added that asking taxpayers to foot the bill for her surgery was a mistake. "There are other medical procedures that are denied to convicted murderers," Frank said.
