The federal government filed a statement in a Georgia court Monday informing an Atlanta judge that the Peach State should fund a prisoner’s demand for a gender-transition surgery.
The United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia and other Department of Justice administrators wrote on behalf of the civil rights of a biologically male prisoner calling for treatment to alleviate alleged gender dysphoria, according to a report citing the statement of interest.
Individuals suffering from gender dysphoria, including the prisoner, identified as 55-year-old Jane Doe, can be marred with distress stemming from a disconnection between their gender assigned at birth and the gender they identify with, the feds argued.
Thus, the Georgia Department of Corrections prohibition of offering free transition care to transgender prisoners violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the federal Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to a suit filed by the prisoner.
Officials with the Department of Justice appear to back the suit, and they argued that gender dysphoria fails to meet any disability exclusion under federal law relating to people suffering from gender identity disorders that are not the product of physical impairments, the report noted.
“People with gender dysphoria should be able to seek the full protections of the American with Disabilities Act, just like other people with disabilities,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. “The U.S. Constitution requires that people incarcerated in jails and prisons receive necessary medical care, treatment and services to address serious medical conditions.”
The 55-year-old prisoner has been placed in men’s incarceration facilities since 1992, but attorneys for the prisoner have not made public the reason for the incarceration.
“Ms. Doe’s conviction history is irrelevant to her case,” an attorney for the prisoner said. “We have filed under a pseudonym to protect Ms. Doe from potential retaliation, and her conviction history is identifying information.”
Doe is currently placed in Phillips State Prison and has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria since 2015, according to the lawsuit filed by the prisoner.
“[The Georgia Department of Corrections] has refused to treat Ms. Doe despite her severe and overwhelming gender dysphoria, which include two castration attempts, multiple suicide attempts, and almost daily self-harm,” the lawsuit reads.
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“GDC’s refusal to provide her with necessary care have worsened her gender dysphoria symptoms by feeding the thought that Ms. Doe might never be able to live in a body that looks like her gender identity.”
Doe accuses Georgia prison officials of denying access to hormone treatment and the ability to purchase women’s commissary items, and, if successful in the courts, Doe’s demands include completion of transition surgery and the transfer to a women’s facility, the report noted.