October 3, 2012

Mass. appeals inmate sex change ruling

The state asks for a stay of the order granting a sex change for Michelle Kosilek, until a federal appeals court can rule.

The Associated Press

BOSTON — Massachusetts has filed an appeal of a judge's decision to grant a convicted murderer's request for a taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery.

Robert Kosilek, in a 1990 booking photo from the New Rochelle, N.Y., police department.

AP

The Boston Globe reports that in papers filed Tuesday, lawyers for the state Department of Correction's commissioner asked for a stay of the order granting a sex change for Michelle Kosilek, until a federal appeals court can rule.

The state says it believes the medical care the 63-year-old Kosilek is receiving is adequate and that the court didn't address what it says are legitimate safety concerns of protecting her in prison.

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled last month that the surgery is the only adequate treatment for Kosilek's gender-identity disorder.

Kosilek was named Robert when convicted of killing his wife, Cheryl, in 1990.

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