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| Inmate sues to have sex-change process completed |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/24/2005 |
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A male Wisconsin inmate who has received state-paid hormone therapy for the last five years to become a woman is suing prison officials for not finishing the sex change process. The suit was filed by Scott Konitzer who now uses the name Donna Dawn Konitzer. Konitzer, who has gender identity disorder, is serving 123 years for multiple armed robberies and for stabbing another inmate. The suit is pending in federal court in Milwaukee. The department has been providing Konitzer, 40, with hormone therapy to stimulate female development since 1999 but will not allow genital surgery. Konitzer claims a prison doctor said the surgery would follow the hormone treatments, and the refusal to follow through violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Konitzer, who looks female because of the hormones, also objects to being housed in male prisons, where male guards do the strip searches and inmates share communal showers. Konitzer is not allowed to wear a bra or women's clothing. People with the gender identity disorder have a strong and persistent discomfort with their birth gender and wish to live as the other, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a reference book used by mental health practitioners around the country. The disorder causes people to have trouble functioning in society and can lead to severe depression, genital mutilation and suicide. |
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