Minnesota to pay $495K plus cover sex-change operation for trans prisoner

The Minnesota Department of Corrections will pay a transgender inmate $495,000 and foot the bill for a cross-sex surgery to settle a discrimination lawsuit, Fox News reports.

Christina Lusk, a biological male who identifies as female, is serving time for felony drug charges until 2024. Lusk filed a lawsuit last year alleging the state DOC discriminated against her by denying her request to undergo a vaginoplasty.

The DOC denied Lusk’s original request, saying “[she] could pursue that [treatment] after release,” the lawsuit claimed.

A vaginoplasty is a surgery to “create a vagina from your existing genital tissue,” according to Boston Children’s Hospital. The surgery also “requires a lifetime commitment to aftercare.” 

Gender Justice, a transgender advocacy group based in St. Paul, which filed the suit on Lusk’s behalf, also alleged Lusk was sexually abused by other inmates. They demanded the inmate be moved to a female prison and allowed to have the requested surgery. 

“Inmates would heckle her, heckle her roommates… call her ‘it,’ that sort of thing,” Jess Braverman, legal director for Gender Justice, told local media. “And then there were staff who would say things to her, such as, ‘You know, you’re a man in a men’s prison. I’m not going to treat you like a woman. I’m not going to use your proper name and pronouns.’” 

In addition to paying Lusk half a million dollars, the DOC will also grant Lusk’s request to be moved to a female prison, making her the state’s first inmate housed by gender identity rather than biological sex. 

“Everybody needs to come together in unity, and embrace positive change,” Lusk said in a press statement following the settlement. “I believe we have made a big step toward allowing people to express who they truly are, and bring some sort of peace and happiness to their lives.” 

Minnesota joins 10 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing inmates to be housed in state prisons according to their gender identity. 

An Obama-era policy already requires federal prisons to house inmates based on their gender identity. The Biden administration has gone even further, requiring federal prison staff refer to inmates by their preferred name, pronouns and gender.