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Judge
Orders Hormone Therapy
For
Transsexual Inmate
by AP
from 365Gay.com on the Web, July 31, 2007
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Boise, Idaho -- An inmate who
castrated herself with a disposable razor blade after prison officials refused
to treat her for gender identity disorder should have female hormone therapy
paid for by the state, a federal judge said.
Jenniffer Spencer, who was born biologically male, sued the Idaho Department of
Correction and its physicians, claiming that her constitutional rights were
violated and that she was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when the
doctors failed to diagnose gender identity disorder and treat her with female
hormones. Instead, the department and its doctors repeatedly offered
Spencer the male hormone testosterone.
A trial over the lawsuit has not been scheduled, but U.S. District Judge Mikel
Williams ruled Friday that the state must provide Spencer with psychotherapy and
estrogen pending trial. Williams also noted that Spencer is scheduled for
release in two years, and that getting the lawsuit to trial could take that long
or longer.
The state's attorneys contend that prison doctors did not find conclusive
evidence that Spencer, 27, has gender identity disorder. It would be
unethical for the doctors to prescribe a drug that wasn't needed and that could
do harm, attorney John Burke said.
The judge disagreed.
"There is no evidence before the court that female hormones have, in fact,
proved harmful to male subjects who are no longer producing testosterone,"
Williams said.
Other transgender inmates are already receiving female hormone therapy, the
judge said, and so the state is able to handle any special concerns that might
arise if Spencer were given estrogen.
Correction Department spokesman Jeff Ray said Monday that the agency could not
comment until it considered the implications of the ruling.
Spencer, who changed her name from Randall Gammett after she was imprisoned in
2000 for possession of a stolen car and escape, had lived full time as a woman
and took birth control pills in an attempt to develop the secondary sex
characteristics of a woman.
But she didn't tell Correction Department officials that she believed she had
gender identity disorder until September 2003, when she learned the state had a
policy detailing treatment options for transgender inmates.
She contends the department ignored some 75 requests she submitted for gender
identity disorder treatment. Instead, prison doctors diagnosed a
nonspecific sexual disorder, then bipolar disorder.
In August 2004, Spencer tried to hang herself in her cell but survived.
Two months later she tried to castrate herself, failing in the first attempt but
succeeding 10 days later.
The judge ruled that Spencer has a fair chance of winning at trial.
"While defendants seem to have identified the fact that plaintiff has a
significant mental health issue regarding gender identity or confusion, there is
little in the record to show that they have provided adequate psychotherapy or
other counseling to address that issue. Rather, they seem to have
consciously disregarded it," Williams said.
Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and an
attorney for Spencer, said her client was pleased by the ruling.
"It got her the relief which she so urgently needed without any further delay,"
Minter said. "The decision is just so overwhelmingly positive that we are
very hopeful the department will now work out a settlement with us without
insisting on going forward with an entire trial."
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