Posted on 05/04/2015 6:38:40 PM PDT by raccoonradio
BOSTON — A nearly two-decade legal fight by a convicted murderer in Massachusetts to get taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery ended in failure Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected her final appeal.
The justices did not comment in letting stand a lower-court ruling denying the surgery to Michelle Kosilek.
"This is a terrible and inhumane result for Michelle," said Jennifer Levi, director of the Transgender Rights Project for Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders.
The state Department of Correction, which has fought the surgery, did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
State prison officials, who say the surgery could cost as much as $50,000, have said in the past they opposed the surgery because it would create security problems.
Kosilek was known as Robert Kosilek when she was convicted of murdering her spouse, Cheryl, in 1990.
Kosilek, now 65, said in her legal fight against the state prisons department that her Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment was being violated and the surgery is necessary to relieve the mental anguish caused by gender-identity disorder.
"The treatment of Michelle has been cruel and unusual, according to two lengthy, thoughtful, and closely reasoned judgments," Joseph Sulman, one of Kosilek's lawyers, said Monday. "The DOC's behavior has been abominable as they have repeatedly defied their own experts in their eagerness to deny her desperately needed medical attention."
The prisons department initially provided hormone treatments, electrolysis to remove facial and body hair, female clothing and personal items, but Kosilek sued again in 2005, arguing that the surgery was a medical necessity and denial of the surgery was making her suicidal. Her lawyers say she has twice tried to kill herself behind bars.
A federal judge in 2012 ordered the Department of Correction to grant the surgery, finding that it was the "only adequate treatment" for her gender-identity disorder. It was the first time a federal judge ordered such surgery.
But the state appealed and that ruling was overturned in December by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 3-2 decision, so Kosilek's lawyers turned to the Supreme Court.
Levi said even though Kosilek has exhausted all appeals, the fight for other inmates will continue.
"But it is just a matter of time before some prison somewhere is required to provide essential surgery, meeting the minimal Constitutional obligations of adequate medical care for transgender people in prison," she said.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who took office in January, said he was pleased with the decision.
"In this particular case I was not in favor of using taxpayer money to pay for this surgery," he said.
__
Think they meant to type “God”.
Wikipedia said his gender confusion goes back a long way;
note use of “she” and “her” are Wiki’s choice not mine:
>>From 1967 to 1968, starting when Kosilek was about 18 years old, a doctor allegedly exploited Kosilek’s difficulty in obtaining medical treatment for her gender identity disorder. The doctor allegedly prescribed hormone therapy for Kosilek in exchange for sex with his patient. Kosilek later said that, while she was on hormone therapy, she “felt normal” for the first time in her life. Kosilek also took hormones for several months in 1971 and 1972 (when she was about 22–23 years old), and developed breasts.
>>. McCaul believed that if she were to marry Kosilek, that Kosilek would identify as a man; Kosilek recalled McCaul saying that all Kosilek needed was “a good woman”. They were married, but Kosilek’s female gender identity did not change.
what was the vote? unanimous? i doubt it...
Yes. I don’t mind getting flamed for an error. I make plenty. “Dod” — what a Freudian slip. That test tube agency makes me puke. Can you imagine them in a human wave assault. The enemy actually wants to cut your guts out. Go get em you faggots and women. What a damned slaughter that will be.
haha!
He forgave me.
What was the breakdown of the court?
She’s so ugly she could scare other prisoners to death.
CBS Boston and Boston Globe articles both say:
>>On Monday, the US Supreme Court left the 3-2 ruling intact.
No further details; maybe they just issued a statement saying they didn’t want to consider the case?
>> The justices did not comment in letting stand a lower-court ruling
>>Basically, the High Court simply declined to hear the appeal, allowing the lower court’s ruling denying the surgery to stand
http://justjenniferblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/finally-bit-of-common-sense.html
If he had been executed, the whole question would be moot, and buried.
bark bark
Lock him in a room with a KaBar and a bottle of cheap whiskey.
Let him make his choice.
"Gammit, I'm a cornman, not a typist!"
His junk on a bunk, a kitchen cleaver and we’re done.
"Sometimes I get them menstrual cramps real hard."
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