Living the Trans Life In Prison

I remember this case, because it was so horrible: in July 2007, Steven Hayes and a younger accomplice invaded the Connecticut home of Dr. William Petit in Connecticut. They held the family prisoners for hours, after tying up Dr. Petit and beating him with a baseball bat. Hayes forced Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, to withdraw $15,000 in cash from an ATM. He brought her back to the house, where he raped her and then strangled her to death. Hayes’s confederate raped the Petits’ 11-year-old daughter. Hayes tied the Petits’ two daughters–the other daughter was 17–to their beds and doused them and the house with gasoline. They had already tied up and beaten the father, and the mother was already dead. The two daughters died in the fire; only Dr. Petit survived.

Steven Hayes was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. His sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment. But the story has a happy ending! Newsweek reports that the rapist and murderer Steven Hayes has now found happiness as a woman. The Newsweek story goes on just about forever, but here are a few lowlights:

Nearly 18 years after killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two young daughters during a home invasion in Connecticut, the murderer formerly known as Steven Joseph Hayes says she’s now at peace — though still haunted by the killings she regrets.

Newsweek dutifully refers to Hayes as “she,” and uses Hayes’s new name, Linda Mai Lee.

“For the first time in my life I am happy to be alive and do not want to die,” Lee told Newsweek via email on Jan. 15, adding she intends to resume hormone replacement therapy shortly.

The vast majority of inmates in Oregon State Penitentiary are men, but Lee said she is able to wear makeup, eye shadow, foundation, eyeliner and even lipstick on occasion. She also cherishes her jewelry, including rings and necklaces, as well as bras, panties and what she called a “slightly feminized” uniform. That had eliminated her thoughts of suicide. She’s now seeking breast augmentation and hair replacement therapy since male pattern baldness drastically enhances her gender dysphoria.

All at taxpayer expense. Hayes started out in the prison system in Pennsylvania, but was transferred to Oregon for reasons that are not clear. He is suing the state of Pennsylvania:

Lee praised prison staff in Oregon, characterizing her treatment as “amazing by comparison” to Pennsylvania, where an ongoing civil rights lawsuit filed in late 2022 alleges she was denied treatment for male pattern baldness and face/body hair removal.

That could stand as an epitaph for our times: “she was denied treatment for male pattern baldness.”

There is much more at the link, all of it nauseating. Newsweek considers this to be a feel-good story that demonstrates how important it is for taxpayers to fund “gender affirming” care for people who claim to be “trans.” The article includes this, which seems jarring:

According to research by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, transgender people are over four times more likely than others to be victims of violent crime.

Of course, the problem in this case was not violence against Steven Hayes. On the contrary.

Recalling his multiple rapes and murders, Hayes trots out a favorite liberal nostrum:

[T]hat is not who I am as a person… What happened goes against everything I believe and will haunt me forever. What makes it worse is knowing that I would never have been in that situation if I had accepted who I am sooner.

Hayes is broadminded; he has no hard feelings toward Dr. Petit:

“I can never expect him to forgive me,” Lee said.

Dr. Petit, contacted by Newsweek, elected not to say anything. Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Hayley Petit and Michaela Petit could not be reached for comment.