ACLU on Manning and medical rights of gender dysphoric prisoners

[cthulu2016]

ACLU Response to Chelsea Manning's Disclosure of Gender Dysphoria

In response to Chelsea Manning's disclosure that she is female, has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and will be seeking hormone therapy as a part of her transition during her incarceration, public statements by military officials that the Army does not provide hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria raise serious constitutional concerns. Gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition in which a person's gender identity does not correspond to his or her assigned sex at birth, and hormone therapy is part of the accepted standards of care for this condition. Without the necessary treatment, gender dysphoria can cause severe psychological distress, including anxiety and suicide. When the government holds individuals in its custody, it must provide them with medically necessary care.

The official policy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and most state agencies is to provide medically necessary care for the treatment of gender dysphoria, and courts have consistently found that denying such care to prisoners based on blanket exclusions violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution...

https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights-free-speech/aclu-response-chelsea-mannings-disclosure-gender-dysphoria

For background:

Army: We won't provide transgender Manning with hormone treatment or sex reassignment surgery

Convicted WikiLeaks soldier Bradley Manning confirmed today that she is transgender and asked to be referred to as Chelsea and with female pronouns.

Mannings' lawyer, David Coombs told the Today show that he hoped officials at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., will accommodate Manning's request for hormone treatment, but the Army said it doesn't provide it or sex-reassignment surgery.

Here is the complete military statement:

We are aware that counsel representing the soldier convicted under the name Bradley Manning conveys that his client now openly identifies as female.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2013/08/army-we-wont-provide-transgender-manning-with-hormone-treatment-or-sex-reassignment-surgery.html

[cthulu2016]

1. Army statement added to OP

[cthulu2016]

3. .

[Erose999]

2. I don't think Manning has asked for reassignment surgery. Its clear the Army and reporters have

misconceptions about the transition process and primary and secondary sex characteristics. I've known several MTF's and they were all on hormone therapy and thought that was "enough". Reassignment is not as common as people conceive it to be, and most of the time only the "top" (meaning breast implants) is done.