(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A transgender Minnesota inmate is working with an activist law firm to sue the Department of Corrections after being denied “gender affirming” genital surgery from behind bars.
The inmate, Christina Lusk, is a male attempting to be a female, the Tennessee Star reported. Lusk is incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake for a drug offense until 2024.
Lusk is suing the DOC with the help of a lawfare center called Gender Justice, seeking financial compensation.
Reportedly, Lusk is upset about being housed in a male prison, as well as the prevention of pursuing other surgeries on the taxpayer dime.
Lusk received “top surgery” prior to imprisonment and has consumed “feminizing hormone treatments.”
Lusk’s lawyers are claiming this case is a human rights abuse. Prior to imprisonment, Lusk was reportedly “on the verge of scheduling” bottom surgery to construct an artificial vagina.
DOC Medical Director James Amsterdam reviewed the case and determined that Lusk will not be allowed to receive genital surgery while imprisoned. However, Lusk is insistent that now is the time.
“I have been diagnosed with severe Gender Dysphoria,” he stated in the complaint.
“I have attempted suicide four times due to my severe distress caused by my GD as well as self mutilation. My mental capacity is under control, and I am able to make good decisions as far as surgery.”
In response to the initial complaint, authorities stated that “the DOC does not do cosmetic surgery” and that the inmate’s gender dysphoria does not qualify as “severe.”
According to the Gender Justice lawsuit, the DOC also “misgenders” their client, using male pronouns and Lusk’s male name.
Gender Justice argued that this constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.”
As a result of these conditions, Gender Justice’s lawyers say Lusk “has suffered, and continues to suffer, emotional distress, mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of reputation, has incurred attorney’s fees, costs, and expenses, and has suffered other serious damages.”
The suit seeks a minimum of $50,000, the transfer to a female prison and a “permenent mandatory injunction forcing courts and DOC staff to address Lusk using only female pronouns.
