Florida Judge Declines to Block Sex Change Operation Restrictions for Inmates
The liberal world almost went into meltdown mode when a Trump-appointed judge refused to block a red state ban on sex change operations for inmates.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, appointed by President Donald Trump, rejected the motion for an injunction based on standing.
The inmate, Reiyn Keohane, will now only have limited resources for the transition.
Game On
Keohane was receiving hormone therapy as well as clothing and grooming accommodations for the better part of the last eight years while imprisoned. Keohane is currently serving a 15-year sentence in Wakulla for attempted second-degree murder.
The Department of Corrections recently changed its policies on this front, which Keohane argued were unconstitutional.
Keohane’s case was taken by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Keohane will be permitted to continue the therapy but will lose the additional accommodations that were granted.
Winsor stated that denying accommodations such as makeup and long hair was not a violation of the 8th Amendment.
He wrote, “Keohane relies extensively on three declarations in which inmates express a profound desire for social accommodations.
“Keohane’s own declaration reports immense distress flowing from being denied these accommodations and that the distress could lead to self-harm, including suicide. Two other inmate declarations report similar feelings.
“But while these are serious matters evidencing serious psychological concerns, Keohane has not shown that the only proper way to address risks of self-harm is to provide inmates with whatever items they contend would reduce those risks.”
The ACLU was critical of the ruling, with Li Nowlin-Sohl, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s LGBTQ + HIV Project, stating, “Florida officials are waging a baseless campaign to dehumanize and degrade incarcerated people like our client.
“Allowing this policy to move forward threatens the basic human rights of transgender people in the state’s custody and the court’s order affords the state’s policy more credulity than it deserves when the clear intent of the state is to ban this health care outright.”
I agree with the judge on this one… if he wants to see a shrink, by all means, have at it, but taxpayers should not be forced to pay for this.
