Vice President Kamala Harris previously said she worked “behind the scenes” during her term as California attorney general to secure sex change surgeries for California inmates despite the fact that it was against state policy at the time.
Harris bragged about circumventing the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation to ensure that transgender inmates were given access to medical services, including sex-change surgeries, despite denying a surgery request to an inmate in April of 2015, according to the Washington Blade. When asked about her track record during her failed 2020 presidential primary campaign, Harris implied that she sometimes had to do things against her personal beliefs, but insisted that she worked “behind the scenes” to ensure that transgender inmates. (RELATED: Kamala Harris Co-Sponsored Bill That Would Force Schools To Let Male Athletes Compete In Girls’ Sports)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 30: Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (L) (D-CA) and her husband Douglas Emhoff (R) wave to the crowd as they ride in a car during the SF Pride Parade on June 30, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In January of 2019, Harris was facing criticism for her anti-LGBTQ track record as California attorney general when her office denied sex-change surgery for inmates, according to the Blade. In an April 2015 legal filing reported by the Blade, Harris, along with other state attorneys, denied transgender inmate Michelle-Lael Norsworthy’s request to obtain a sex-change surgery.
“Norsworthy has been treated for gender dysphoria for over 20 years, and there is no indication that her condition has somehow worsened to the point where she must obtain sex-reassignment surgery now rather than waiting until this case produces a final judgment on the merits,” the brief reads.
In an attempt to defend herself, Harris maintained that she provided transgender inmates the sex-changes she said they “needed” and “deserved.”
“On that issue I will tell you I vehemently disagree and in fact worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Department of Corrections would allow transitioning inmates to receive the medical attention that they required, they needed and deserved,” Harris said during a news conference in 2019, according to the Washington Blade. (RELATED: California Housing Trans Prisoners Halts Condom Distribution Without Explanation, Memo Shows)
Harris said that she aided the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation to pave a path for transgender inmates to obtain “transition-related care,” which included sex-change surgery, according to the Washington Blade.
“I believe that we are at a point where we have got to stop vilifying people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and we’ve got to understand that when we are talking about a particular transgender community,” Harris said during the news conference. (RELATED: Newsom Signs Law Mandating Trans Prisoners Be Housed Based On The Gender They Identify With)
“For too long they have been the subject of bias, and frankly, a lack of understanding about their circumstance and their physical needs in addition to any other needs they have, and it’s about time that we have a better understanding of that,” Harris said during the news conference.
Since California began providing transgender inmates sex-change surgeries, prisons have been struggling to keep up with the increased sex-change surgery requests.
In the 2021-2022 California budget year, 270 transgender inmates requested “gender-affirming” surgeries, which was a significant uptick from 99 requests the year prior, according to CalMatters. CalMatters projected that 348 gender-affirming surgeries were expected to be carried out in 2023, and another 462 were expected in 2024.
Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Detective Sergeant Richard Valdemar said California’s transgender inmate housing policies have led to an “unprecedented rise in violence,” according to new docuseries titled “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” by the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF).
“It’s happening everywhere, the federal system. I have friends in the … Bureau of Prisons Federal system, and it’s happening in Arizona … the important part of that is that the public doesn’t know that this is happening,” Valdemar stated.
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