TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
SCOTUS: No Inmate Surgery Appeal
Fifth Circuit said “universal” medical consensus lacking
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
The US Supreme Court announced
December 9 that it would not review
a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling
that Texas had no obligation to
provide gender confi rmation surgery to a transgender
prisoner.
Circuit Judge James Ho, an appointee of
President Donald J. Trump, had written the
majority opinion in a 2-1 decision in Gibson
a/k/a Lynn v. Collier on March 29. Circuit
Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, an appointee
of President George W. Bush, dissented.
The Fifth Circuit found that transgender inmate
Vanessa Lynn “offered no evidence” that
there was “universal acceptance” in the medical
community that gender confi rmation surgery
was either necessary or effective as a treatment
for gender dysphoria. Given what it characterized
as a difference of opinion among medical
experts, the court found Lynn had not proved
that denying the treatment was either cruel or
unusual.
The court rejected Lynn’s contention that the
JK Rowling Embraces Transphobia
“Harry Potter” creator makes most explicit endorsement yet
BY MATT TRACY
“Harry Potter” author JK
Rowling continued her
track record of voicing antitransgender
sentiments on
December 19 when she rushed to the defense
of a researcher who is out of a job after posting
numerous transphobic tweets.
A tweet from Rowling focused on Maya
Forstater, whose contract with the think tank
Center for Global Development was not renewed
after she posted tweets saying things like, “Transwomen
are transwomen. That’s Great. But enforcing
the dogma that transwomen are women
is totalitarian.” Forstater’s transphobic tweets
have largely been directed at a trans rights bill
introduced in the United Kingdom.
Rowling responded to the decision not to renew
Forstater’s contract, tweeting, “Dress however
you please. Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security. But
force women out of their jobs for stating that sex
is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill”
FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
Despite a brief, dismissive opinion from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Judge James Ho, the Supreme Court will not hear an appeal
by Texas inmate Vanessa Lynn in her effort to win the right to
gender confi rmation surgery.
Eighth Amendment requires prison authorities
to make an individualized assessment of each
TWITTER.COM/ JK_ROWLING
Millionaire Scottish writer JK Rowling believes in wizards but not
the authenticity of transgender people.
Forstater has also tweeted false statements
that disregard intersex individuals and disrespect
non-binary individuals. In a December
18 tweet, she wrote, “There are two sexes. Men
are male. Women are female. It is impossible to
change sex. These were until very recently understood
as basic facts of life.”
Forstater tried mounting a legal challenge to
inmate’s medical claims. An established generalized
policy based on the conclusion that a
treatment does not enjoy universal acceptance
in the medical community is defensible, the
Fifth Circuit found.
Finally, the court held that denying gender
confi rmation to inmates is certainly not “unusual”
given that claims for such treatment
have almost away been rejected.
Judge Barksdale’s dissent focused on the
fundamental unfairness of the entire proceeding.
The district court granted summary judgment
in favor of Texas authorities with Lynn
representing herself and prevented from presenting
evidence.
The Fifth Circuit’s ruling relied heavily on a
2014 ruling by the full bench of the First Circuit
in Kosilek v. Spencer, where the court premised
its holding on “expert testimony” that Judge Ho
cited to support the conclusion that gender confi
rmation lacks universal medical acceptance.
But a requirement of “universal acceptance”
sets a virtually impregnable barrier to the right
➤ TRANS INMATE SURGERY, continued on p.13
the company’s decision not to renew her contract,
but a London employment tribunal confi
rmed that the statements she made were not
protected under the law.
Forstater’s beliefs are consistent with a growing
group of transphobic individuals, emerging
in big numbers from the UK, who do not
believe in transgender rights and have constantly
sought to undercut trans people and
trans rights. These folks have also been known
as gender-critical feminists and trans-exclusionary
radical feminists (TERFS). They have
turned to aggressive tactics such as when they
barged into a meeting earlier this year to harass
the Human Rights Campaign’s national press
secretary Sarah McBride and deliberately misgender
her.
It would not be the fi rst time Rowling’s name
has been tied to transphobia, but it represents
the most explicit example. As pointed out by
Katelyn Burns, Rowlings has liked anti-trans
tweets, including in 2017 when she liked a tweet
linking to a transphobic Medium.com piece and
➤ JK ROWLING, continued on p.13
January 2 - January 15, 2 12 020 | GayCityNews.com
/TWITTER.COM
/Medium.com
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