I wrote an article last year entitled Jailed Persons Entitled To Adequate Health Care. The bottom line was that jailed prisoners were entitled to adequate medical health care. Generally viewed as the best possible health care.
The courts had decided that to preclude prisoners from adequate health care was cruel and unusual treatment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The thrust of my column was that the medical care prisoners were entitled to and receiving was paid for with taxpayer dollars. Which in many instances provided the prisoners with better coverage or coverage itself which taxpayers did not have.
Based on the court decisions, civilian prisoners in local, state and federal jails were and are receiving terrific medical care.
I did not think it was fair that a murderer, burglar or rapist should receive better medical care than tax paying American citizens. There was something about the concept that bothered me.
Now comes Bruce Manning.
Manning was recently convicted of leaking 700,000 secret documents while serving in the military. He was sentenced to 35 years in jail. He has already been sent to the military correctional institution at Fort Leavenworth. A military jail.
Last week on the Today Show, Manning's attorney read a statement by Manning. He said.....I am Chelsea Manning. Note the adoption of a female first name. He also said.....I am female.
He went on to say he wanted to live as a female and that the female gender was the real him. He requested hormone therapy as soon as possible. He did not request a sex change operation.
A spokesman for the Fort Leavenworth military prison said the U.S. Army was not going to pay for any hormonal treatment.
I believe the spokesman spoke in error. The only distinction between Manning and other prisoners is that Manning is in a military jail. I do not believe that distinction alone will deny him hormonal treatments and, if proven necessary, a sex change operation. All at taxpayer expense.
Lets spend a moment examining the nature and extent of the problem. The politics of it, also.
People who require a sex change are simply defined as persons with one gender on the outside and another on the inside. A man who believes mentally his innards make him a woman, a woman who believes she is a man otherwise than in appearance.
It is a medical illness. A mental one. A for real one. It is technically called gender dysphoria. In layman's terms, gender identity disorder. The disorder results in severe emotional distress. The medical profession views such persons as people in serious medical need.
Gender identity disorder is not new. It was recognized hundreds of years ago by American and Canadian Indians. Also by native Mexicans. It was not frowned upon. It was viewed as a third gender. Male, female and transgender. It was no big deal.
Shoot fast to last week. California's Governor Brown signed a new law. One which permits students to decide which rest room and locker room they wish to use. The law goes into effect January 1. The law obviously is to assist transgender students.
Turns out the transgender problem is serious one in California. It affects just less than 2 per cent of the population. A significant number.
There have been six recently conducted national studies. They showed that 3 per cent of the United States population is affected by transgenderism. Roughly 700,000 persons. Another significant number.
The problem is bigger than most were aware. It affects such large numbers of people.
You will recall that with the same sex marriage issue, people came out of the closet. With transgenderism, they are coming out of the shadows.
I view transgenderism as a new and major civil rights issue over the course of the next decade. It will become increasingly vocal. I suspect that in 10-15 years, it will be constitutionally protected as race, color and gender are today.
There can be no other way. The problem is medically recognized. It affects a significant portion of the population. The result is cast in stone.
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