Transsexuals are severely mentally ill people who should be treated with therapy instead of being allowed to deform themselves with unnecessary surgery.

The whole idea that you can take a man -- or a woman -- operate on their genitals, pump them full of hormones, and do a few other assorted cosmetic alterations and then turn them into the opposite sex is insane. It makes about as much sense as sticking someone in a cow suit, gluing two horns on his head, and then calling him a cow.

It's a bad joke and if Rhiannon O'Donnabhain has his way, it's going to be even less funny,

"After a tormented existence as a father, a husband, a Coast Guardsman, and a construction worker, a 57-year-old suburban Boston man underwent a sex-change operation. And then she wrote off the $25,000 in medical expenses on her taxes.

But the IRS disallowed the deduction, ruling the procedure was cosmetic, not a medical necessity, in a potentially precedent-setting dispute now before the US Tax Court.

Rhiannon O'Donnabhain is suing the IRS in a case that advocates for the transgendered are hoping will force the tax agency to treat sex-change operations the same as appendectomies, heart bypasses, and other deductible medical procedures. The case is set to go to trial July 24.

An estimated 1,600 to 2,000 people a year undergo sex-change surgery in the United States, according to the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

O'Donnabhain, now 63, served in the Coast Guard, got married, helped to raise three children, and worked as a supervisor at various engineering and construction jobs, including the Big Dig highway project. O'Donnabhain said she could have paid back the approximately $5,000 she received in her tax refund, but decided to challenge the IRS because she believes the ruling against her was rooted in politics and prejudice.

How in the world can anyone even begin to argue that a sex change is a medical necessity? Nobody "needs" a sex change for health reasons. If anything, the operation has the potential to create health problems for people because they're having unnecessary surgery to disfigure their bodies.

Moreover, by giving this weirdo a tax break, everybody else is in effect being asked to pay more to make up for the fact that this sicko got a break for having an operation. That's wrong and it shouldn't be allowed.

Hat tip to Cassy Fiano for the story.