New York state lawmakers are pushing legislation that would allow male criminals to serve their terms in women’s prisons. Assembly Bill A709, styled the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity and Safety Act, would automatically place prisoners in the facility that corresponds with their “self-attested gender identity,” even if they have had no medical interventions such as hormones or surgery and are thus physically indistinguishable from an ordinary man.
The bill would make it illegal to “discriminate” against (i.e., deny transfers to) male prisoners who “identify” as women—even those incarcerated for sex crimes against women. It would even prohibit correctional institutions from questioning the sincerity or motives behind a request to transfer and would allow offenders to move between men’s and women’s prisons without restriction.
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