Georgia governor signs law banning funding for gender transitions in prison

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation banning the use of taxpayer funds for gender “transition” procedures for prison inmates, declaring it a “common-sense step.”

Senate Bill 185 states that “no state funds or resources shall be used” for “(s)ex reassignment surgeries or any other surgical procedures that are performed for the purpose of altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics; (h)ormone replacement therapies; and (c)osmetic procedures or prosthetics intended to alter the appearance of primary or secondary sexual characteristics.”

Exceptions would be made for “medical conditions where such treatments are considered medically necessary” unrelated to gender dysphoria or sex reassignment; rare cases of “medically verifiable disorder of sex development, including individuals born with ambiguous genitalia or chromosomal abnormalities resulting in ambiguity regarding the individual’s biological sex”; “partial androgen insensitivity syndrome”; or weaning off hormone replacement therapies that were underway before incarceration.

“Taxpayer dollars should not be used for procedures like this, and this legislation codifies that common-sense step,” Kemp declared just before signing the bill at a public event, WMAZ reported.

“A budget is a reflection of our priorities, and by voting red, we are signaling that our priorities lean more toward paying for sex reassignment surgeries than budget dollars for teachers, pre-K students and for law enforcement, which is why in my mind SB 185 is a common-sense piece of legislation for our constituents,” Republican state Rep. Scott Hilton said last month in the floor debate over the bill, WABE added.

In recent years, there has been growing concern around the world over placing men who claim to be women in female prison populations that has proved to be a means of both securing lighter treatment during incarceration and gaining easy access to women to prey upon. Transgender status also has the potential to be exploited to avoid incarceration entirely in some cases, as seen in Wales when a man who identified as a woman received a suspended sentence keeping him out of prison despite physically assaulting two partners within days of each other on the grounds that he would be “vulnerable” behind bars.

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