CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The case of a transgender woman in prison who is suing the state of North Carolina for gender-affirming medical care can proceed, a federal judge decided on Tuesday.
In April, Kanautica Zayre-Brown, who is being held at Anson Correctional Institution sued North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety. She, and her lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union, claim the prison system department has failed to regularly dispense Zayre-Brown’s prescribed provide her hormones and has denied her request for surgical vaginoplasty, a procedure to construct a vagina.
During Tuesday’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn rejected the state government’s motion to dismiss and said he intends to hear arguments in Zayre-Brown’s case. Cogburn also denied the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed Zayre-Brown to have surgery and receive prescriptions.
