New York's Bill S1049: Transition Surgery For Transgender Inmates

A new law may require New York State to pay for transgender prisoners to have their transition surgery. As of June 2025, there are currently 115 non-binary individuals incarcerated in New York State prisons out of 31,182 total prisoners, per monthly reports issued by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Non-binary means that a person does not fit into the traditional genders of male or female. According to Wikipedia,

"Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is different from the sex assigned to them at birth, although some non-binary people do not consider themselves transgender."

There seems to be a lot of fake news that insinuates that transgender people are taking over in huge numbers.

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Bill Would Have New York State Pay For Transgender Prisoners' Surgeries

While transgender people have been kicked out of the military due to hate and are no longer allowed to step up and serve their country, they can potentially use taxpayers' money in prison. I guess some people prefer that they spend taxpayers' money in prison, rather than them protecting and serving our country.

A proposed law here in New York would provide state funds to pay for the transition surgeries of transgender inmates. Senate Bill S1049, which is known as the "gender identity respect, dignity and safety act,” would give inmates who identify as a gender that does not match their gender assigned at birth certain rights. The bill is sponsored by Julia Salazar, a Democrat representing the 18th Senate District. It is currently in the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee.

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New York State Prisoners who identify as a gender different from what was assigned to them at birth would be provided with "access to commissary items, clothing, personal property, and programming and educational materials consistent with gender identity." They would also have access to affirming medical and mental health resources. Surgery that affirms the gender they identify with would fall under that umbrella. The bill would also offer protections against transgender inmates being held in "protective custody" against their will to "protect" them.

This bill is an important step to ensure New York State respects the dignity and safety of incarcerated transgender, gender nonconforming, intersex, and nonbinary New Yorkers.