The suit claims the lead plaintiff — Maddilyn Marcum, who received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria in 2009 — is being denied medically necessary care while incarcerated.
Marcum is also filing the class action suit on behalf of at least 62 other current prisoners who are or will be denied access to hormone therapy under Senate Bill 2, which passed the General Assembly this year. It bars cross-sex hormone therapy or surgery for transgender inmates.
Marcum said prisoners' sentences do not mean that they should "also be denied adequate healthcare simply because politicians disagree with the treatment that the medical community recognizes as appropriate and that medical providers have prescribed.”
When the bill was debated earlier this year, the Justice Cabinet identified about 450 inmates receiving some kind of hormone treatment — with the vast majority for conditions outside of gender dysphoria. The bill's sponsor assured colleagues it would not affect those inmates.