On a recent episode of his “Pray In Jesus Name” show, Gordon Klingenschmitt reacted to the news that the Army will pay for gender reassignment surgery for Chelsea Manning, who is currently in prison for leaking classified information, by declaring that providing this surgery violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on imposing cruel or unusual punishments.
After predictably declaring that Manning is possessed by a “demonic spirit of lying,” Klingenschmitt asserted that providing her with the surgery amounts to “government castration of prisoners.”
“Oh my gosh,” he said, “I thought that was cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. So when the ACLU says he has a constitutional right to this castration, no! The Constitution says the opposite, that your not allowed to treat prisoners with cruel and unusual treatment. That’s clearly a violation … of his constitutional rights.”
“This man is not only confused,” Klingenschmitt said, “now the Obama administration has joined the demonic spirit in the deception and now they’re violating his constitutional rights by castrating him.”
