Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council (FRC), on Thursday
criticized a new California policy allowing transgender inmates to
obtain gender affirmation surgery.
California is the first state to
implement such guidelines.
The policy change comes just months
after the state settled a lawsuit filed by Shiloh Quine, a
56-year-old transgender woman. Quine, who is serving a life sentence
for murder, has been on hormone therapy since 2009 and has attempted
suicide multiple times. The settlement clears the way for Quine to
become the first transgender person to undergo sex-reassignment
surgery in any state prison system that was based on medical
diagnoses.
Perkins described the policy change on
his Washington Watch radio policy as “rewarding people who
don't just break the state's laws but nature's too.”
“I can assure you that [the number of
incarcerated transgender people is] about to be more, once they know
that they can get free surgery.”
“With a price tag of anywhere from
$50,000 to $100,000 for these reassignment surgeries,” Perkins
added, “I think there's no shortage of people that may want to
sign up [to go to prison].”
Kris Hayashi, executive director of the
Transgender Law Center, told the San
Francisco Chronicle that the new policy was about ensuring
“transgender people in prison can access life-saving care when they
need it.”