Kentucky’s attorney general says federal law doesn’t require taxpayers to fund gender re-assignment surgeries for transgender inmates in state custody.
Republican AG Russell Coleman issued an opinion on Thursday, calling the idea “absurd.”
The Kentucky Department of Corrections requested the opinion as it revises administrative regulations on medical care for inmates. The proposed new rules expand protections for LGBTQ-plus inmates, including housing them with others who share their gender identity and using their preferred pronouns.
Specifically at question was whether denying gender-reassignment surgeries violates the 8th Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Coleman said federal law doesn't require taxpayers to fund those procedures and cited previous rulings on the matter from federal appeals courts.
“For most Kentuckians, the answer to the Department’s question is self-evident. Common sense dictates that it is not ‘cruel and unusual’ for the Department to decline to spend taxpayer dollars on such controversial medical procedures," the opinion reads. "Fortunately, there is no controlling legal authority that compels the Department to abandon common sense."
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who’s a former Kentucky attorney general, said Thursday that he agrees with the opinion.
“Federal law requires certain safety procedures, as well as certain medical coverage for those inmates, but like medical coverage for any inmate, it has its limits," Beshear commented in his weekly Team Kentucky update. “In any circumstance, an inmate, regardless of their gender identity, should not have better access to health care than a law-abiding private citizen.”
Beshear said the Department of Corrections will pull the regulation and re-write it in a way that’s consistent with Coleman’s opinion.
