FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Kentucky court declined to issue a preliminary injunction in Marcum v. Crews on Friday, a case brought by the ACLU of Kentucky in June regarding transgender healthcare.
The case aims to seek relief for current and future transgender individuals seeking care for gender dysphoria while incarcerated.
Covering Kentucky
ACLU of Kentucky lawsuit seeks relief for transgender people in prison
According to the organization, led plaintiff Maddilyn Marcum was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2009, and received "hormone therapy under a licensed medical provider’s care for five years prior to her incarceration."
In 2016, the Department of Correction acknowledged Marcum's diagnosis and allowed her to continue to receive care, after initially refusing to do so.
Along with Marcum, the class action lawsuit includes 66 "other current prisoners are being, or will soon be denied access to that gender affirming care as a result of Senate Bill 2, which passed the General Assembly in 2025," the ACLU reports.
“This decision is disappointing, but we will continue to litigate our case on behalf of Ms. Marcum and all transgender people who are incarcerated in Kentucky.” Said Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, said in a release on Friday. “We will continue to demonstrate to the court how this cruel policy violates our clients’ right to receive medically necessary healthcare.”
The ACLU of Kentucky argues that by withholding medical treatment is a violation of the Eighth Amendment as it prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
"Recent attacks on the transgender population do not erase the fact that transgender people have always existed, and always will," the ACLU said in the release.
Read more about the case here.
