Hey. So this is really, really fucking important.
I’m not sure how (if anything) we can help Ophelia De’lonta but she surely needs support. Especially now that she has earned the right to have her case heard.
But. She is a Black trans woman in prison. She deserves not only the support but to have the medical care that she needs.
this is happening in my city! How did I not know about this?
Active-Rva, reblog this please!
A brief summary and some context:
Ophelia De’lonta, a black transwoman imprisoned in Virginia, will be going to court on appeal to argue that the state must provide sexual reassignment surgery the same way it must provide any other needed procedure. If she is successful, the ruling will do two things:
First, it will allow her to have the surgery she needs to be healthy and to be moved to a female facility, where she won’t be under constant threat of sexual abuse; De’Ionta has been hospitalized several times after unsuccessful self-castration attempts, and lives in fear of other inmates and guards.
Two, the ruling will establish legal precedent that identifies sexual reassignment as a necessary, not elective, procedure. It’s possible that such a ruling can be used to argue for compulsory insurance coverage of the surgeries.
(Source: girlslikeusnews)
