Around The Nation

Super-Pac Targets President's Support Of Same-Sex Marriage During DNC Convention

ARLINGTON, VA -- The Campaign for American Values super-pac launched a new advertising campaign effort apparently aimed at independent voters and democrats unhappy with the president's stance on same-sex marriage. In the 30-second spot, titled "New Morning," a couple discusses how "Obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country."

"That's not the change I voted for," says one of the actors in the ad.

A "Vote Romney/Ryan" graphic then flashes across the screen as another actor says they can instead "vote for someone with values."

As delegates and the democratic faithful gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Democratic National Convention is currently underway, the ad is running on nearly every media outlet in the city and around the state. Earlier this year, voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, effectively banning same-sex marriage.

The state is considered a key swing state with the latest polling showing GOP Nominee Mitt Romney only with a slight lead of 47.3% over the president's 45.3%.

President Obama had announced his support for same-sex marriage the day after North Carolina's amendment passed and his reelection campaign has criticised Mitt Romney for outspoken support of an constitutional amendment that would make marriage solely between a man and a woman on a Federal level.

The GOP had enshrined this into their party platform last week in Tampa while Tuesday, delegates in Charlotte approved the DNC 2012 platform which includes a pro-marriage equality plank.

Convicted Murderer Granted Gender Reassignment Surgery By Federal Judge

Michelle Kosilek   File Photo

BOSTON, MA -- In his 126-page ruling Tuesday, US District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf ordered the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to provide a taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery to an inmate serving life in prison for murder, "because it is the only way to treat her serious medical need." Wolf also noted that the treatment for Michelle Kosilek had been prescribed by Department of Correction doctors, and that the only justifications for denying the treatment were based on public opinion.

This the first time that a federal judge anywhere in the U. S. has ordered corrections officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate.

According to court documents, Michelle Kosilek, a transgender female inmate first sued the Department of Corrections 12 years ago and after two years of litigation won the right to receive hormone treatments in her first appearance before Judge Wolf, who stopped short of ordering the gender reassignment surgery. Kosilek sued again in 2005, arguing that the surgery is a medical necessity.

In his ruling Tuesday, Wolf found that surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Kosilek and that "there is no less intrusive means to correct the prolonged violation of Kosilek's Eighth Amendment right to adequate medical care."

Corrections officials have repeatedly argued that allowing Kosilek to have the surgery would make her a target for sexual assaults by other inmates.

Wolf, a Reagan appointee to the federal judiciary disagreed writing "security concerns are "either pretextual or can be dealt with." He said it would be up to prison officials to decide how and where to house Kosilek after the surgery. Kosilek has been housed in an all-male correctional facility after being imprisoned for the 1990 murder of her spouse Cheryl Kosilek.

Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the agency would have no immediate comment on the ruling.

"We are reviewing the decision and exploring our appellate options," Wiffin said

In a telephone interview in 2011 with The Boston Globe, Kosilek told the paper that the surgery is a medical necessity, not a frivolous desire to change her appearance.

"Everybody has the right to have their health care needs met, whether they are in prison or out on the streets," Kosilek said. "People in the prisons who have bad hearts, hips or knees have surgery to repair those things. My medical needs are no less important or more important than the person in the cell next to me."

Kosilek's lawsuit has become fodder for radio talk shows and Massachusetts lawmakers who say the state should not be forced to pay for a convicted murderer's sex-change operation – which can cost up to $20,000 – especially since many insurance companies reject the surgery as elective.

A transgender activist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told LGBTQNation Tuesday afternoon:

"I have great empathy for transgendered people who are incarcerated. But I do believe there is also a common sense standard that needs to be applied to inmate's  needs. 

Life threatening or medically necessary procedures and drugs should be provided to prisoners. But changing gender surgery is not medically necessary to survive and gender reassignment is not life threatening. I believe unless the prisoner can pay for it herself it shouldn't happen. 

That doesn't mean I think of gender reassignment as frivolous or unnecessary. As taxpayers we are not obligated to provide prisoners quality of life, only ability to live physically healthy."

In a dissenting view, Kristina Wertz, Director of Programs and Policy for the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco, told LGBTQNation in an e-mail.

"There is a strong medical consensus that health care related to gender transition is medically necessary for transgender people. We are heartened to see the court recognize that transgender people who are incarcerated are entitled to the same access to medically necessary services that all people in prison should receive."

Inmates in Colorado, California, Idaho and Wisconsin have unsuccessfully attempted to try to get the surgery, making similar arguments in lawsuits they filed that denying the surgery violates the U.S. Constitution's protection against cruel and unusual punishment.