Chelsea Manning and the Law – Outside The Beltway

Bradley Mannings announcement that she wishes to be addressed as Chelsea Manning and begin living life as a woman poses some interesting legal questions.

Tom Vanden Brook and Jim Michaels, reporting for USA Today (Manning Faces Legal Minefield) provide some background:

Legal, medical and mental health professionals, even the Veterans Affairs Department, recognize that transgender men and women can qualify for medical treatment. The VA wont pay for veterans to have sexual reassignment surgery but it will pay for hormone treatment and counseling for those who qualify.

Its unknown how many transgender troops are serving. From 2001 to 2011, there were 3,177 veterans diagnosed with gender identity disorder, according to the VA. The number is increasing annually, it says. About one in 11,000 male babies and one in 30,000 female babies are born with gender identity disorder, according to the Veterans Health Administration.

The Pentagon, meantime, refuses to accept transgender troops or offer them treatment. Gay and lesbian troops may now serve openly, but transgender soldiers get discharged. And the Army says it will not treat Manning for transgender issues during the privates sentence at the Armys Fort Leavenworth prison a male-only facility.

Activists and lawyers say the Pentagon is fighting a rear-guard action that it cant win. It cant deny a prisoner legitimate, recognized therapy, they say. If Manning receives a diagnosis that he needs gender treatment, hell be entitled to therapy in prison, says Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Its really clear-cut, Keisling said. If a person gets diabetes, you treat the diabetes, she said. If you break a leg, that gets treated. If you have schizophrenia, that gets treated. It doesnt matter if it is a mental or physical health problem.

Denying therapy or surgery is the initial reaction most prisons have had. Its regularly been rejected by courts because the courts say the Constitution requires prisoners be given adequate care, said Neal Minahan, a Boston attorney who has worked on similar cases.

You cant just have a blanket ban on a medical procedure without some doctor involvement, he said.

See the article here:
Chelsea Manning and the Law - Outside The Beltway