Supreme Court Denies Convicted Murderer's Appeal for Taxpayer Funded $50K Sex Change Surgery

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, May 05, 2015

A cloudy sky aboce the U.S. Supreme Court building the day before arguments in the same-sex marriage case Obergefell v. Hodges, is pictured in Washington, April 27, 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a potentially historic case on Tuesday over the legality of same-sex marriage, in oral arguments that will cap more than two decades of litigation over the issue. Based on how the court has ruled during the past two years, there's a sense of inevitability in the air that a majority is on the verge of declaring gay marriage legal across the U.S. The case, Obergefell v. Hodges, comes amid a transformation in U.S. public attitudes towards gay marriage. The court's arguments on Tuesday over same-sex marriage will cap more than two decades of litigation and a transformation in public attitudes. | (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from a convicted murderer in Massachusetts seeking an estimated $50,000 taxpayer-funded sex change surgery without comment Monday and gay rights advocates are not happy about it.

The convicted murderer, born Robert Kosilek but now identifies as a female named Michelle Kosilek, is serving a life sentence for killing her spouse, Cheryl Kosilek, in 1990.

She has been pushing for the sex change surgery for almost 20 years to relieve mental anguish caused by gender-identity disorder, according to The Boston Globe.

"This is a terrible and inhumane result for Michelle," said Jennifer Levi, director of theTransgender Rights Project for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, who represented Kosilek in court.

The Massachusetts Department of Correction has been allowing Kosilek, now 65, to get hormone treatments, electrolysis to remove facial and body hair, female clothing and personal items to help her deal with her disorder but stopped short of allowing the sex change surgery citing security issues.

In a 2012 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf, however, he argued that the state's failure to provide the surgery violated the U.S. Constitution's protections against "cruel and unusual punishment" and ordered the state to provide the surgery.

Wolf noted in his 127-page order that the surgery was the only adequate care for the inmate's gender identity disorder and that Massachusetts Department of Correction doctors had recommended it.

The Department of Corrections identified a doctor willing to perform the surgery, estimated to cost around $50,000. The administration of former Governor Deval Patrick appealed Wolf's order before the full circuit court, which threw it out despite support for the order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.

The Christian Post reached out to the Department of Corrections for comment on the case Tuesday but a response was not ready at the time of publication.

Correction Department spokesman Darren Duarte told The Boston Globe in an e-mail, however, that: "We are satisfied with the court's decision.''

Kosilek's lawyers say she has exhausted all appeals but are still advocating for prisons around the country to better meet the needs of transgender inmates around the country.

"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,'' Levi told the Globe.

Last month the state of Georgia's Department of Corrections updated the agency's policy to fit more in line with that of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and now treats inmates' gender identity disorders the same way it would treat any other medical or mental health condition.