U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco ruled that it's unconstitutional to deny Jeffrey Bryan Norsworthy, 51, who has been serving a life prison sentence since 1987, his request for California taxpayers to fund a six-figure sex change surgery so that he can live the rest of his life in prison as Michelle-Lael Norsworthy.
He's a “pleasant-looking woman, slender and coiffed in a ponytail.”
-- Judge Tigar
Also, yesterday, President Obama's DOJ (Eric Holder) told a federal court in Macon, Georgia to provide free hormone therapy to a male cross-dressing prisoner.
UPDATE 6/25/15: President Obama's New 'Free' Sexual Mutilation — Gay Agenda
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
Judge Orders Massachusetts to Pay for Inmate’s Sex-change Surgery
Lawsuit: No Cross-dressing in Connecticut Boys Detention
Minnesota Says Title IX Forces School Boys into Girls' Showers
ObamaCare Pays for 'Transgender' Sexual Mutilation — Gay Agenda
Also read President Obama Floods Gay Agenda with Taxpayers' Money
-- From "
Judge orders CA to pay for inmate’s sex change" by Don Thompson, Associated Press 4/2/15
Norsworthy has lived as a woman since the 1990s [in the men's prison] and has what Tigar termed severe gender dysphoria.
“The weight of the evidence demonstrates that for Norsworthy, the only adequate medical treatment for her gender dysphoria is SRS,” Tigar wrote, referring to sex reassignment surgery.
“This would be a first” for California, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver who controls California prison medical care. The cost to taxpayers for such surgery is uncertain, she said.
“It’s several tens of thousands of dollars, possibly close to $100,000, depending on the circumstances. But It’s hard to estimate,” Hayhoe said.
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "California prison ordered to grant inmate’s sex change surgery" by Lindsey Bever, Washington Post 4/3/15
However, U.S. District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar in San Francisco said on Thursday that the department denied her request for sex reassignment surgery, or SRS, likely because it has a policy against approving it as a treatment for transgender inmates. He granted a preliminary injunction, telling the prison system to let her have the operation “as promptly as possible.”
“The weight of the evidence demonstrates that for Norsworthy, the only adequate medical treatment for her gender dysphoria is SRS, that the decision not to address her persistent symptoms was medically unacceptable under the circumstances, and that [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] denied her the necessary treatment for reasons unrelated to her medical need,” Tigar wrote in his ruling. Denying her the surgery, he said, would violate her constitutional rights.
In 1987, Norsworthy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life behind bars. She is now being held at an all-male prison called Mule Creek State Prison, some 40 miles from Sacramento. Officials have argued that if she has the surgery, keeping her in that facility — or any men’s prison — could put her at risk for sexual assault. Moving her to a women’s prison, they said, could put her or other inmates at risk because she has a history of domestic violence, the AP reported.
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "State prison officials ordered to allow sex-reassignment surgery" by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer 4/3/15
State prison inmate Michelle-Lael Norsworthy became convinced of her female identity in the mid-1990s and started taking hormone therapy, with prison doctors’ approval, in 2000. In 2009, she was gang-raped by nine inmates in a yard at the male prison and was infected with hepatitis C. Now 51, Norsworthy suffers sleeplessness, panic attacks and other anxiety symptoms associated with the condition known as gender dysphoria.
The evidence indicates that “prison officials were deliberately indifferent to her serious medical need,” said U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar. He said officials had disregarded the recommendations of Norsworthy’s treating physicians and instead had assembled their own dubious medical reports to justify a blanket policy of refusing all such requests.
The department says it has several hundred transgender inmates who are taking hormones. . . .
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "Judge's order for inmate's sexual reassignment may be appealed" by Ryan Parker, Los Angeles Times 4/3/15
“We are still considering all options, including an appeal,” said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“After having received continuous and effective medical and mental health treatment for over fifteen years to address her gender dysphoria, Plaintiff Michelle Norsworthy now seeks the extraordinary remedy of a preliminary injunction ordering state doctors to perform immediate sex reassignment surgery," according to a DOC filing in the case.
“But Norsworthy has not demonstrated a medical necessity for such surgery, much less any sudden or dramatic deterioration in her medical or mental health that might otherwise warrant such an order,” it continued.
Surgical operations do not take place at prisons in California, officials said. All operations, including Norsworthy’s should it happen, are done at community hospitals.
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "Justice Department Sides With Transgender Inmate In Georgia Lawsuit" by David Ingram, Reuters 4/3/15
Lawyers with the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division said in papers filed in a federal court in Macon, Georgia, that the refusal of adequate treatment for a recognized mental illness amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Chinyere Ezie, a staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center who represents the Georgia inmate, said the Justice Department brief appeared to be the first of its kind on behalf of the U.S. government.
The Georgia inmate, Ashley Diamond, 36, [a man who has] lived as a woman and took hormones before going to prison for burglary and other charges in 2012. Her lawyers said in court papers that her physical and mental health were at risk without treatment, and that prison officials have placed her in unsafe facilities with violent men.
The case is Ashley Diamond v. Commissioner Brian Owens, et al, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, No. 5:15-cv-50. (Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "DOJ says transgender prisoner 'forced to suffer needlessly'" by Tim Devaney, The Hill 4/3/15
Transgender prisoners are “among the most vulnerable populations incarcerated in our nation’s prisons and jails,” the Justice Department said.
“By taking action in this case, the Justice Department is reminding departments of corrections that prison officials have the obligation to assess and treat gender dysphoria just as they would any other medical or mental health condition,” Vanita Gupta, acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement.
“Prisoners with gender dysphoria should not be forced to suffer needlessly during their incarceration.”
The lawsuit also claims Diamond has been sexually assaulted inside the men’s prison.
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "Justice Department: Ashley Diamond's gender condition should be treated by prison system" by Michael Doyle, McClatchy Washington Bureau 4/4/15
Underscoring a significant legal turnaround, federal officials say a restrictive Georgia policy for providing health care to inmates with a condition called gender dysphoria violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The federal move assists Diamond, who’s sued the Georgia Department of Corrections over its refusal to provide feminizing hormones while incarcerated. Other transgender inmates in similar circumstances also could be affected if the Justice Department prevails.
Until 2011, the federal Bureau of Prisons maintained the same gender dysphoria policy as the one it’s now challenging in Georgia. The federal policy changed under pressure from a lawsuit filed by a transgender inmate currently held at Federal Medical Center, Butner, in North Carolina.
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
From "Transgender Inmate’s Hormone Treatment Lawsuit Gets Justice Dept. Backing" by Matt Apuzzo, New York Times 4/3/15
With his action on Friday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the nation’s first black attorney general, asserted that the campaign for the rights of gays, lesbians and transgendered people was a continuation of the movement that won equal rights for blacks in the civil rights era. He has been one of the Obama administration’s most outspoken voices on the issue of same-sex marriage, and he drew criticism from conservatives last year when he advised state attorneys general that they were not constitutionally obligated to defend bans on same-sex marriage.
In recent years, the Obama administration brought civil rights cases against school districts based on where the Justice Department said transgender students were being harassed, or discriminated against. In one instance, school officials in Arcadia, Calif., settled with the Justice Department in a case over whether a transgender boy who was born a girl should be allowed to use boys locker rooms and restrooms. The school district agreed to change its policies and treat him like other male students.
This week, the Justice Department sued Southeastern Oklahoma State University, accusing the school of discriminating against a transgender employee. Federal civil rights law does not explicitly ban discrimination against transgender people, but Mr. Holder announced in December that the Justice Department considered such bias to be prohibited under the same civil rights law that outlaws sex discrimination.
To read the entire article above,
CLICK HERE.
For additional background on President Obama's Department of Justice (Eric Holder), click headlines below:
DOJ Creates Law for Transgenders
DOJ Forces School Girl into Boys Locker Room
DOJ Launches Transgender Cop Training
DOJ Forces Employees to Celebrate Sexual Deviancy
DOJ OKs Illegal 'Gay Marriages,' Harms Kids
DOJ Tells States to Violate Oath for 'Gay Marriage'
Also read Transgender/Gay Agenda Attacks America One Town at a Time but nationwide: President Obama's Cross-dressing Military Fantasy is Reality
And read Transgenderism is a 'Delusion' According to Victim
