Is a sex-change a constitutional right?Follow

No, along with breast enhancements. I'm having to "compete" for braces. I don't think a sex change should be granted. There's a fine line between necessity and personal desires. In some instances, I can see granting augmentations for self-esteem, but this is not one of them. In the "necessity" scenarios, there is something "wrong" that needs to be fixed. So, unless something is "wrong" with him, then I don't support it. With that being said, I support therapy if he thinks he need it.

I hate psychology. I really do.

Sometimes they come out with this really good thing and it is awesome, like stress treatment and diagnostics. Then sometimes they come out with something absolutely retarded and over-diagnosed like ADD/ADHD which seems more and more like myth rather than scientific fact.



Is there peer-reviewed consensus that transsexualism is a consequence of genetics or is it a consequence of environment?

Is GID (Gender Identity Disorder) a real thing like stress or is it a largely manufactured "illness" like ADD/ADHD?

-NW

Of course it's worth debating. If it was $5,000 in federal tax dollars going for building crosses on courthouses or gay-conversion therapies it would be a "mere pittance in the pot" and yet still worth debating.

In this case, treatment for it would necessitate a different prison than the one he is assigned to (or likely to be). He can seek all the sex conversion therapy he wants when he's out of Leavenworth. I'm sure Wikileaks will foot the bill for him.


He's already been detrimental to the United States of America. Which is why he can wait 8-35 years to get his completely voluntary, non-life saving treatments. Boy, it's almost as though there's consequences for espionage, huh?

No "extra" to it. It's prison, not a care clinic for voluntary treatments.

Your tax dollars should pay for everyone else as well.

There's problems with that as well. It isn't as simple as *poof* you're female.

At what point--if at all--would we transfer him to a female prison?

I did a quick preliminary Google search, several sites devoted to transgender folks tells me that the MtF process is a long one. Transfer him after he gets his breasts? How about a ******?

Who is to determine who is going to pay for aftercare? Complications?

Then it begs the question, are we putting people in prison to cater to their every little desire? Kinda defeats the point of prison if you ask me.

-NW

Edited, Aug 25th 2013 8:48am by NaughtyWord

Suicide is unfortunately far from unlikely, so maybe.

And I don't think it should be paid for through taxes, either she can pay for it himself or through her insurance. I think it's no more than reasonable to transfer her to a prison for women when the transition starts showing though.

If not, then let's leave him where he's supposed to be: Leavenworth. The high security military prison for his military crimes where he was sentenced under the military justice system.

Well, most psychological organizations have ruled solitary confinement a form of torture if it lasts for a few weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised if the combined stresses caused by it and the gender identity issues were more than enough to make Manning a high risk for suicide. That's not an uncommon side effect of solitary to begin with (and is, laughably, one of our first responses for dealing with suicidal inmates...)

But it's a common enough practice. I believe precedent typically says that inmates have to pose a threat to others for any sort of prolonged solitary to be acceptable, though. I wouldn't imagine Manning was actually sentenced to solitary.

The other reality is that, due to the press she's getting, if they attempted to keep her in solitary for an extended period of time, it shouldn't be too hard to garner attention for that fact and successfully sue for wrongful treatment.

What was their reasoning for the solitary confinement over the last few years anyway? I suppose I just assumed whatever that was would continue to justify solitary in the future.

If someone has a medical issue that demands a chiropractor, then yes.

I don't believe prison as a punishment works. And I view our current system as a huge burden on the health of our society.

I believe in rehabilitation, and I believe that central to that idea is that inmates need to leave, mentally and physically, in a better situation than they were before if at all possible. I think that would have a direct correlation on the quality of our society, on the rates of repeat offenses, etc.

If a sex reassignment surgery is vital to Manning's mental health, I would consider it natural to make that option available. I also fall into the camp that believes that particular surgery should be covered under socialized healthcare plans as well, so I imagine there's many levels of differing opinion here.

I don't know. I fail to see why we wouldn't let inmates see chiropractors, if they have issues that require chiropractors to solve. I doubt they'll be as productive a member of society if all the cartilage between their vertebrae erodes before they're finally released. I also find it difficult to understand why anyone would imagine prison was effective at much of anything productive if therapy wasn't available.

If and when that happens, I would argue for Manning to have access to it. As it currently isn't, I don't think she should have special privileges because she's incarcerated.

I think it's more complicated than that, given we have an insurance-based system. Manning cannot be employed in prison, and therefore cannot get insurance that way. She can't afford to purchase a plan that covers sexual reassignment surgery by herself on prison wages.

Given that the state is the one restricting them from the steps that would allow access to the care, I don't think it's as simple an argument as just breaking things down into privileges inside vs. out.

That said, if the compromise was hormone therapy and a "let's see," I'm more or less okay with it.

Most trans persons choose not to go forward with sexual reassignment surgery, for a myriad of reasons (some don't fall at the extreme end of the binary, some would rather have working sexual organs, some would rather not choose the cons imposed by our current medical limitations, some just don't want to face the stress of major surgery, etc.). It's not like this is a decision that needs to be made today. Manning might never even seek it.