News (USA)

Transgender parolee gets surgery years after winning, then losing, the right

Transgender parolee gets surgery years after winning, then losing, the right

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A transgender woman has undergone sex-reassignment surgery, nearly two years after her lawsuit resulted in California becoming the first state to offer the operation to prison inmates.

The San Francisco Chronicle says 53-year-old Michelle-Lael Norsworthy had the Medicare-funded surgery Friday in San Rafael.

Norsworthy was convicted of second-degree murder for a 1985 bar shooting.

She began identifying as a woman in the 1990s and received hormone therapy in prison. Doctors recommended reassignment surgery in 2012 but officials refused.

Norsworthy sued and in 2015 a San Francisco federal judge ordered California to provide the surgery. However, Norsworthy was paroled before it could be scheduled.

Another transgender inmate who sued, Shiloh Quine, underwent surgery in December, making her the first U.S. inmate to have the state-paid operation.

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