Transgender Inmate In Minnesota Sues Department Of Corrections For Being Refused Gender Reassignment Surgery

A transgender inmate in Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against the prison she’s detained in over being refused surgery.

Christina Lusk, 56, is currently serving time at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake, Minnesota, until 2024 for a felon drug offense.

Lusk, who identifies as being “socially, medically, and legally” a woman, is suing the state Department of Corrections (DOC) over alleged discrimination by the state, claiming she is being refused the ability to undergo sex reassignment surgery while detained, Fox News reports.

The lawsuit was filed by Gender Justice, an advocacy group based in St. Paul, on Lusk’s behalf. Lusk says that since being imprisoned in the male facility, she has experienced discrimination from the male inmates and has been placed in the “direct line of fire for violence,” Fox News reports.

Before going to prison, Lusk underwent “top surgery” and was about to have a “vaginoplasty.” However, after going over her case, DOC Medical Director James Amsterdam decided that Lusk shouldn’t be allowed to get the second surgery but that she could do so once she is released.

Lusk, who says she suffers from “severe Gender Dysmorphia” is demanding $50,000 in financial compensation and a “permanent mandatory injunction” that would require Lusk to be moved from a male facility to a female facility and be treated and recognized as a woman.