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Judge Forces Idaho to Fund Estrogen Treatment for Male Inmate Who Thinks He Is A Woman

By John Jalsevac

BOISE, ID, August 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Federal district Judge Mikel Williams ruled on Friday that the Idaho Department of Correction must provide an inmate with estrogen therapy.

The inmate believes that he is a woman trapped in a man's body. The man, who castrated himself using a disposable razor blade while in prison, demanded female hormone therapy, and also changed his name from Randall Gammett to Jenniffer Spencer.

After prison officials refused estrogen therapy, but instead offered testosterone therapy to replace the hormones lost to castration, the inmate sued, alleging he was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and other constitutional violations.

State officials said the inmate was in prison for several years before demanding treatment. In 2004, he survived an attempted suicide. Two months later he tried to castrate himself, failing in the first attempt but later succeeding.

"There is no evidence before the court that female homrmones have, in fact, proved harmful to male subjects who are no longer producing testosterone," said Justice Williams, according to AP.

The case of Randall Gammett, now Jenniffer Spencer is yet to go to trial. Justice Williams' order is for the state to provide the hormone treatment pending trial, which is yet unscheduled.

The legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is representing Spencer, welcomed Williams' ruling. Shannon Minter refers to the Spencer as "she", saying, "It got her the relief which she so urgently needed without any further delay. The decision is just so overwhelmingly positive that we are very hopefully the department will now work out a settlement with us without insisting on going forward with an entire trial.

Liberty Counsel, however, is a nationwide legal organization with experience in litigation of transsexual legal issues. Mathew D. Staver, the Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, pointed out the absurdity of the current case, saying, "Hormones and plastic surgery do not change a person's sex, which is an immutable trait fixed at birth. Plastic surgery and hormone treatment to alter a person's sexual appearance is no more warranted than is liposuction for an anorexic. The state should not be compelled to fund so-called sex reassignment surgery, especially when such treatment is not widely accepted, is experimental, and has not been shown to resolve the disturbed mental behavior."

Bryan Fischer, the executive director of hte Idaho Values Alliance, agreed with Staver, saying, "Whether transgenderism ought to be normalized, and whether taxpayer dollars should be spent in futile attempts to turn males into females, are decisions that should be made by Idaho's lawmakers, no by unelected and unaccountable judges."

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