Intersex issues hearing in SF

[kengr]

From: Bodies Like Ours [mailto:bodieslikeours@bodieslikeours.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 3:14 PM
To: bodieslikeours@lists.bodieslikeours.org
Subject: SF Public Hearing on Intersex

Friends,

I would encourage anyone with an interest in intersex conditions to consider submitting written testimony on this important hearing. You do not need to live in the bay area in order to have your voice and opinion heard.

Betsy Driver
Bodies Like Ours
************
Announcing: the FIRST Public Hearing on Intersex Issues before a government body in the USA!

The San Francisco Human Rights Commission is conducting a public hearing to explore human rights concerns associated with intersex issues. This groundbreaking event is the first time that a governmental entity in the USA has addressed intersex issues. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission is the city department responsible for enforcing San Francisco's nondiscrimination laws.

WHEN: On Thursday, May 27, 2004, 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: Rm. 416, City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, 4th floor, San Francisco.

Call for participation:

The Commission invites people to share their personal experiences regarding medical, social, and legal aspects of their experiences, regarding potential human rights aspects of intersex issues. The Commission encourages the participation and attendance of intersex people, parents and family members of intersex people, and providers. The public is strongly encouraged to attend!

Written testimony from people who can't make the hearing, or who may wish to offer an anonymous contribution are also needed. Please send your testimonies (preferably by May 17, 2004) to the address below.

Please distribute this announcement widely through your public and personal networks.


For more information contact, and to send written testimonies:

Marcus Arana
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 800
San Francisco, CA 94102-6033
(415) 252-2519
marcus.arana@sfgov.org

Comments

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is meant by the word "intersex"?

Were I to venture a guess, I'd assume that "intersex" is largely (though possibly not entirely) congruent with "transgender." I'm interested in learning about the differences (if any) between these two terms.

[kengr]

Actually, "intersex" barely overlaps transgender.

Intersexed people or intersexuals are *physically* between "male" and "female".

Folks with what is referred to as "ambiguous genitalia", folks with genetic oddities (such as androgen insensitity, which can cause an otherwise XY "male" to appear to be female, all the way up to having body that has breasts and a vagina!), and on and on.

As I recall, they amount to something like 1 in 1000.

Many of the folks with "ambiguous genetalia" have had surgeries as infants to "correct" their genitals. With varying degrees of sucess.

That's success in terms of producing something that looks like female genitals, as that's what the docs usually go for.

There's been a growing movement among them to get the AMA to quit sanctioning such surgery on the grounds that it *doesn't* work. That is, raising an intersexual as a "girl" after giving them female genitals does *not* produce a girl, it's just as apt to produce a TS guy.

In fact the classic case that'd been cited for years is one of the people who is very vocal in the movement. Seems the doctor was lying thru his teeth about how happy "she" was...

In some ways, I think the intersed community has the best chance of killing any laws saying marriage is "one male and one female" as they violate the most basic premise of such laws. Namely, that you *can* divide people into "male" and "female, much less do so *easily* and unambiguosly.

Try doing web searches on "intersexed", "intersexed" and "intersexual". And check out the Huevodoces from the Dominican Republic. They have a genetic oddity that make them look like a girl (unless you do genetic tests of a very thorouigh and rather invasive physical exam) until they hit puberty. At which point the penis grows, testes descend, etc etc.

Also keep your eyes open if you've got cable, as there have been a few good programs on Discovery, PBS, and a couple other channels.

ps. I'm not intersexed, but I've known a couple.

[kengr]

Just for the heck of it...

OBTrav: Picture a world where intersexed people are more common. And society has made "appropriate" adjustments. The very *minimum* of which would be forms that looked like this:

Sex: M[] O[] F[]

With the possibility of several more classificiations. Or of breaking "sex" down into several subcategories (say, physical, genetic, and social)