A federal judge has suspended the previously approved sex change operation for a Massachusetts man imprisoned for killing his wife. US District Judge Mark Wolf, called his previous order approving the surgery “unpopular and misunderstood” but acknowledged that this unpopular decision was sounds based on the principles of the 8th Amendment that forbid “cruel and unusual punishment.” Independent state psychiatrists have determined that the surgery is appropriate medical care for gender identity disorder, an accepted mental illness.
The entire case could prove to be an influential precedent on the topics of prisoner’s rights as well as LGBT rights, convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek is fighting to continue her process of changing genders while incarcerated in the Massachusetts state Department of Correction.