The federal government is funding organizations that illegally discriminate against LGBTQ candidates to become foster care parents for unaccompanied refugee children, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.
According to the 29-page complaint, Kelly Easter has been turned away twice from fostering a migrant child in the federal foster care program while living in Nashville, Tennessee.
The lawsuit alleges that Michigan-based Bethany Christian Services refused to permit Easter to be a foster parent late last year because she is a lesbian. Bethany is the only organization located near Easter that is participating in the federal program.
A few months after turning Easter away, Bethany’s leadership announced in March that it had changed its policy and would now be accepting applications from LGBTQ families, the lawsuit says.
But the agency told Easter she would have to drive to its office in Smyrna, Tennessee, a half-hour away, because its office located closer to her Nashville home is under contract with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which won’t certify same-sex couples as foster parents.
Catholic Bishops receives federal funds to provide foster care services and Bethany receives money from the Catholic Bishops at its Nashville site. Bethany’s Smyrna site is funded through a different source.
“It hurt to be turned away – twice – solely because of my identity,” Easter said in a statement. “I’ve been a Christian since I was a little girl and my personal relationship with God is the most important thing to me. I also know that LGBTQ people can have thriving families and that they are as important and deserving as any other.”
The lawsuit, claiming First and Fifth Amendment violations, names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Refugee Resettlement as defendants. The heads of each agency were also named, including HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. The agencies did not immediately respond to email requests for comment on Wednesday.
“By preventing children under their care and custody from being placed in homes of LGBTQ people based on USCCB’s religious beliefs, the government … disserves and demeans LGBTQ children for whom they are responsible, stigmatizing them as less deserving and less worthy of respect than other children,” the lawsuit argues.
In a statement, a Bethany spokesperson said that the organization is “committed to welcoming and serving all individuals and families” and that “no one will be rejected because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
“We invite anyone who is interested in providing children with a safe, loving home to contact us and begin the licensing process today,” the organization added.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington D.C.
A Kansas City suburb has agreed to ban controversial conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth.
The Kansas City Star reports that licensed medical or mental health professionals face a $1,000 fine for trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity under the ban that the the Prairie Village, Kansas, City Council approved 11-1 on Monday.
The ban does not prohibit churches or religious leaders from speaking with youth about their sexuality or gender identity.
Councilwoman Inga Selders thanked the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Kansas, which has pushed for an end to the practice, emphasizing the harm conversion therapy does to minors.
Lawrence and Roeland Park also banned the practice in Kansas. Missouri cities with conversion therapy bans include Kansas City, North Kansas City, St. Louis, St. Joseph and Columbia.
Councilwoman Sheila Myers cast the lone “no” vote. She previously suggested the ban wasn’t needed because it is unclear if any professionals in Prairie Village are practicing conversion therapy.
The American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association found that conversion therapy lacks scientific evidence and can harm young LGBTQ people by contributing to depression and mental health issues.
The ceremony is an opportunity to make a stand for gay and trans civil rights worldwide in the central European nation that has moved to curtail them, said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of MTV Entertainment Group Worldwide.
“We’re looking forward to using the event to amplify our voices and stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ siblings,” McCarthy said in an interview with The Associated Press.
No government censorship of the telecast will be tolerated, McCarthy said.
“We’ve made it very clear and we have from the beginning…. we do not allow editorial input as it relates to the artists” and the content we create, he said. “That’s always a condition regardless of whatever country we go into.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s conservative ruling party introduced the measure that on its face was aimed at fighting pedophilia. Amendments ban the representation of any orientation besides heterosexual, along with gender change information in school sex education programs, or in films and advertisements aimed at anyone under 18.
MTV, which made a deal two years ago to hold the show in the nation’s capital, Budapest, planned to issue a lengthy memo to staffers in apparent anticipation of possible criticism of its decision.
“This may surprise anyone who knows that in June of this year, Hungary passed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation banning television content featuring gay people during the day and in primetime,” allowing it only to run overnight, McCarthy said in the memo.
McCarthy said his immediate and personal reaction to the law, as a gay man, was to move the event to another country. But after consulting within MTV and with LGBTQ advocates globally, including in Hungary, the decision “was very clear to us.”
“Instead, we should move forward, using the show as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary and around the world as we continue to fight for equality for all,” he said in the memo.
MTV’s pre-emptive outreach comes amid backlash by some Netflix staffers to the streaming service’s handling of a Dave Chappelle stand-up special, “The Closer,” which includes derogatory comments about trans people. Netflix has declined to remove the program.
As a gay youngster in a Pennsylvania steel mill town in the 1990s, McCarthy said he felt isolated and alone until he saw LGBTQ characters on TV, including Pedro Zamora on MTV’s “The Real World.”
“I started to think, ‘this might be OK,’” he told the AP, and said it’s alarming to imagine a young person deprived of the same opportunity because of Hungary’s TV restrictions.
The Europe Music Awards, known as the EMAs for short, will honor young LGBTQ activists with MTV’s Generation Change Award, to be given in partnership with the activist group All Out to amplify its worldwide campaigns for equality, McCarthy said.
Proceeding with the EMAs in Hungary is “absolutely the right decision,” given the nation’s “concerted onslaught” on LGBTQ rights and scapegoating of minorities, said Matt Beard, executive director of All Out.
Such visibility “gives fuel to LGBT-plus communities living in Hungary an incredibly precious sense of international solidarity that comes from a big global media event like the EMAs,” Beard said.
In a September interview with the AP, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the new law is intended to protect children from pedophiles and ”homosexual propaganda.” An EU decision to delay billions in economic recovery funds earmarked for his country amounted to “blackmail,” he said.
The MTV EMAs were launched in 1994 with a ceremony in Berlin hosted by Tom Jones. The awards have since hopscotched among nations, including France, England, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
The host, nominees, and performers for this year’s ceremony have yet to be announced. The 2020 event was held virtually because of the pandemic.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and retired NBA All-Star Dwyane Wade joined Utah leaders Wednesday to announce the completion of a local advocacy group’s campaign to build new homes that provide services for LGBTQ youth in the U.S. West.
Encircle, a non-profit providing mental health services for LGBTQ youth, has surpassed its goal of raising $8 million to build eight new homes with locations in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah aimed at providing safe spaces and preventing teen suicide.
“Encircle’s mission is very personal to me because I see myself in so many of these young people,” Cook told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday. “It’s not easy when you’re made to feel different or less than because of who you are or who you love. It’s a feeling that so many LGBTQ people know far too well.”
The group kicked off the initial campaign in February with donations from Apple and Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith.
Wade, who joined the Utah Jazz ownership group in April, shared his experience as the parent of a transgender child and voiced his support for Encircle’s mission.
“I stand here as a proud parent of a beautiful daughter that’s a part of the LGBT-plus community,” Wade said. “I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know everything, but I’m willing to listen.”
Encircle has locations in Salt Lake City, Provo and St. George, Utah. Construction has begun on locations in Heber, Logan and Ogden, as well as in Las Vegas.
The group is based in Provo, Utah, which is also home to Brigham Young University. Jeffrey Holland, a top leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently called on the church-owned university to uphold its commitment to the faith’s fundamental teachings, including its stance against same-sex marriage.
The ensuing controversy showed that tensions remain between the LGBTQ community and the state’s predominant faith.
Church scholars say the Salt Lake City-based faith taught that homosexuality could be “cured” in the 1970s. The church has since said homosexuality is not a sin, though it remains opposed to same-sex marriage and intimacy.
The number of homophobic hate crime reports in the UK has tripled and the number of transphobic hate crime reports has quadrupled over the last six years, shocking new figures reveal.
Data obtained by Vice World Newsshows there were 6,363 reports of hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2014-15, the year same-sex weddings became legal in the UK, compared to 19,679 in 2020-21 – a total increase of 210 per cent.
For reports of transphobic hate crimes, there were 598 in 2014-15 and 2,588 in 2020-21, representing a rise of 332 per cent.
Only ten out of the 45 UK police forces recorded a decrease in hate crime, and the vast majority of those who provided data had seen a year-on-year rise in hate crime reports since 2014.
Among them were Liverpool’s Merseyside Police, which has been battling a wave of homophobic attacks in the city this year. Back in 2014-2015 the hate crime reports numbered just 64; in 2020-21 this figure soared to 834.
Leni Morris, chief executive of Galop, the UK’s LGBT+ anti-abuse charity, said she wasn’t surprised that hate crime reports went up during the lockdown period.
“Right from the beginning of the pandemic, we saw the impact that lockdown was having on the escalation in violence and abuse against our community,” she told Vice.
“We saw LGBT+ people targeted as a direct result of the pandemic – either because the pandemic was seen as a punishment for our existence, or because of our community’s association with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and a notion that LGBT+ people were somehow at the root of this pandemic.”
“What we do know for sure, from the UK government’s own figures, is that 90 per cent of hate crimes against LGBT+ people go unreported, so these figures only represent a tiny part of the overall amount of abuse and violence faced by the LGBT+ community in the UK today.”
This rise in hate crimes has been accompanied by a sharp uptick in the demand for the services of Victim Support, an independent charity which provides specialist, confidential help for victims of crime in England and Wales.
Victim Support says overall requests for help have jumped by almost 11 per cent in the past 12 months, with calls relating to transphobic attacks surging by a shocking 45 per cent.
This is significantly higher than the 22 per cent increase in the number of people seeking help for disability hate crimes, and a 20 per cent increase in sexual orientation-related crimes.
An “overwhelming majority” of hate crimes recorded by the charity were race and nationality-related (71 per cent), with Victim Support noting a spike in referrals to its services following the Euro 2020 final in July.
“It is both concerning and disheartening that our figures reflect this significant increase in hate crimes across the country,” said Diana Fawcett, Victim Support’s chief executive, as reported by the Independent.
“We are alarmed to see that the number of victims seeking support for race and nationality-related hate remains high, and we strongly condemn all types of racist abuse.
“It’s also worrying that there has been a huge jump in the number of people seeking support for disability, homophobic and transgender-identity related hate crimes, which we’ve seen have a damaging effect on the victim’s sense of safety, well-being and self-worth.”
The rising hate crime rates were confirmed earlier this month by the investigative journalism unit Liberty Investigates, which also found that forces across England and Wales had resolved fewer cases in 2020 than five years ago.
In 2020 only 14 per cent of cases resulted in a conclusive outcome such as a caution, charge, summons, penalty notice or community resolution – half the rate of 28 per cent seen five years earlier.
“These findings are extremely concerning,” said Nadia Whittome MP, who previously worked as a hate crime project officer at the non-profit social enterprise Communities Inc.
“I am not surprised that people withdraw from the police and criminal system, given how negative an experience many people from marginalised groups have had. However, the scale of withdrawals and lack of justice represents an institutional failure of hate crime victims.”
Dame Vera Baird QC, the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, said police had failed victims.
“It is shocking that police are clearly so unresponsive to this. If people are gaining the confidence to go to the police, only to be left lying by the wayside, there can’t be a clearer failure.”
The D.C. State Board of Education voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to approve a resolution calling for LGBTQ+ Inclusive Education Standards for the city’s public schools that “reflect on the political, economic, social, cultural, and scientific contributions and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”
The two-page resolution, which was introduced by gay State Board of Education member Allister Chang, who represents Ward 2, cites national research showing that students who have access to LGBTQ+ curricula in their schools “are more likely to report lower frequency of bullying, lower levels of depression, more accepting peers, and greater feelings of safety in school.”
The resolution states that research also shows that multicultural education, including the teaching of LGBTQ topics, “helps prevent the formation of bias and prejudice and creates more democratic communities.”
LGBTQ rights advocates have long considered the local D.C. government through its mayor and City Council to be highly supportive of the LGBTQ community. But Chang and other supporters of the resolution approved by the board Wednesday night say their research shows that D.C. public schools, while supportive of LGBTQ students, are far behind the school systems in several other states in the inclusion of LGBTQ topics in school curricula.
As an example, supporters of the resolution point out that curriculum standards for social studies classes in the D.C. school system include only one mention of LGBTQ people in a teaching section related to victims of the Holocaust.
Unlike most other cities and states, under current D.C. law, the school system is controlled by the mayor through the D.C. Department of Education, which is headed by a Deputy Mayor for Education and who, in turn and in consultation with the mayor, appoints a State Superintendent of Education who oversees the day-to-day operations of the schools.
Under a change in the education statute approved by the D.C. Council and signed by then-Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2007, the school board, which was renamed the State Board of Education, became a mostly advisory body on education matters with some statutory authority to approve education standards on which school curricula are based.
Thus, the resolution approved by the board on Wednesday “advises” and “recommends” that the State Superintendent of Education develop school curricula, guidance for teachers, and school-based leaders and staff “in providing LGBTQ+ inclusive lessons and practices in their classrooms.”
The resolution concludes by recommending that the State Superintendent of Education conduct a survey of students within two years after the Oct. 20 adoption of the resolution “to establish baseline data and to gain an understanding of the current experiences of LGBTQ+ students across the district and what all students know and understand about the contributions and experiences of LGBTQ+ people in the relevant subject areas.”
Chang and other members of the State Board of Education noted at the Oct. 20 meeting, which was virtual, that Will Beckerman, who graduated this year from D.C.’s School Without Walls High School, played an important role in conducting the research used to prepare the LGBTQ standards resolution and helped in the drafting of the resolution.
Chang noted that much of the background information used to draft the resolution came from Beckerman’s senior year school research paper and advocacy project that focuses on the topic of LGBTQ-inclusive education.
In comments supporting the resolution, Chang also spoke about how the very limited LGBTQ content he encountered during his high school days helped him accept himself as a gay youth.
“As a student myself, I don’t remember a single mention of any LGBTQ people in any of my classwork until I read Thomas Mann in my senior year in high school,” Chang said. “And in Death in Venice, this Nobel Prize winner touches upon his struggles with homosexuality but never actually names it explicitly,” Chang told fellow board members.
“And I remember holding on to this novella despite the self-hatred that’s woven throughout this story because it was the first time that I saw this aspect of my identity reflected in my class work,” he said. “My hope – and I think this hope comes true with this resolution tonight – is that future generations of LGBTQ students have more opportunities to see themselves reflected in their class work and to feel less isolated by their class work than I did growing up.”
It couldn’t immediately be determined whether D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser will endorse the school system changes proposed by the resolution approved by the State Board of Education.
The full text of the resolution follows:
State Board of Education Resolution
On LGBTQ+ Inclusive Education Standards
SR21-7
WHEREAS, the 2019 District of Columbia Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual students make up 15.9 percent of high school students in the District and transgender students make up1.9 percent of District high school students;
WHEREAS, in the District, these students, in comparison to their heterosexual peers, experience double the rate of bullying on school property, report higher rates of being removed from class for disciplinary reasons, and are more than twice as likely to experience suicidal ideation;
WHEREAS, national data shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual students are significantly more likely to receive grades of D or F than their heterosexual peers and were more likely to be truant;
WHEREAS, consistent research suggests that students with LGBTQ+ inclusive curricula in their schools are more likely to report lower frequency of bullying, lower levels of depression, more accepting peers, and greater feelings of safety in school—and this safety leads students to report higher attendance, higher GPAs, a greater sense of belonging in the school community, and higher educational aspirations;
WHEREAS, research shows that multicultural education helps prevent the formation of bias and prejudice and creates more democratic communities ;
WHEREAS, the State Board of Education recognizes the need to have revised social studies standards that create “windows and mirrors” so students see themselves and people like them reflected in the content of standards and curriculum, as well as having the opportunity to learn about diverse people, cultures, places, and experiences unlike themselves—explicitly noting that the current standards emphasize the lives of presidents and other figures who held/hold power and under-represent or lack representation of people and groups like those identifying as LGBTQ+, and their respective histories;
WHEREAS, in the State Board of Education’s review and revision of the social studies standards, the State Board called upon the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to “seek standards writers who reflect the demographics and experiences of District students and of the communities they are writing about” sharing a list of examples that included writers identifying as LGBTQ+;
WHEREAS, the State Board of Education is committed to ensuring students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be engaged global citizens in a diverse democratic society; and,
WHEREAS, the State Board of Education has a commitment to promote equity, introduce policies to reduce disparities between students, and create safe school environments for all students.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT, upon the next revision of any District of Columbia state education standards, the State Board of Education should adapt standards, when appropriate, that reflect on the political, economic, social, cultural, and scientific contributions and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, the State Board of Education advises the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to provide guidance to teachers and school-based leaders and staff on creating inclusive lessons in science and English language arts (ELA) classes that align with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core ELA standards, respectively;
We are lesbians and collaborators in the LGBTQ+ movement. We also have a third thing in common: We are both survivors of breast cancer. Each of our health journeys have led us to unite around a common goal to ensure that LGBTQ+ communities have what they need when facing a breast cancer diagnosis or getting treatment to prevent it.
In Dina’s case, she spent years undergoing countless procedures to mitigate her high breast cancer risks. She endured invasive surgeries that required grit, determination, resilience, and continual love and nurturing from her wife, Dom, their children, and their respective families. It went on for more than a decade.
Along the way, Dina also sought out support groups to help her cope with the emotions that arose around the bodily changes that resulted from her intense treatments. There, she faced a rude awakening. All of those groups were filled with straight women who did not react well when she spoke of her wife and her overall experience as a lesbian facing major breast health issues. In one online group, all but one of the women dropped off the call, after she shared insights from her LGBTQ+ perspective.
In another conversation, when Dina shared her sorrow over the loss she was feeling after a double mastectomy, the person she confided in quipped: “Well at least there’s still one set of boobs in your relationship,” referencing Dina’s wife, Dom, who has not faced any breast health problems herself. These incidents of insensitivity and misguided reactions left Dina feeling lonely, isolated, depressed, and unsupported.
Yet even as she rode the wave of these feelings, she felt a sense of resolve, knowing she had the skills, the contacts, and the wherewithal to make a change. As a registered nurse, author, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) expert, and CEO of her own health care consulting firm, she set out to give LGBTQ+ people a new resource. She enlisted Cindi’s advice as a breast cancer survivor, LGBTQ+ public relations pro, and friend.
Cindi overcame the immense challenge of major breast cancer treatment in 2018 and 2019, penning this op-ed for The Advocate at the time about the disparities facing LGBTQ+ people with cancer. She shared important statistics in the piece from the National LGBT Cancer Network and looked to the future about how to use her experience as a catalyst for giving back. The piece also highlighted how lucky she was to have good insurance, health care providers who respected her identity, and an amazing support system (including, most importantly, her wife, Rainie) to move through the difficulties. Far too many LGBTQ+ people with cancer lack these privileges.
Today, we, Dina and Cindi, are both healthy and thriving. So, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are thrilled to announce that we have formed a new nonprofit to fill the resource gap for those in our communities who are confronted with breast health challenges. It’s called the Inclusive Community for Breast Health or as we affectionately call it, “I See Breast Health,” a play on our acronym. ICBH will provide education and resources for LGBTQ+ individuals who are in treatment for, or seeking to prevent, breast cancer, and work to build cultural competence within the health care system through collaboration with academic and health organizations.
As Dina saw firsthand during her own nursing education, there is a dearth of information on LGBTQ+ populations for those being trained as nurses, doctors, and other health care roles. ICBH plans to formally partner with academic institutions and engage with current medical students and future health care providers so they have the tools they need to provide excellent breast-focused healthcare for LGBTQ+ people. Some of these collaborations have informally begun.
And although we are only just beginning our work, we’re excited to share a non-research based survey focused on identifying LGBTQ+ community support needs in the area of breast/chest health. The responses we receive will help us understand what people are facing so we can better focus our programming priorities to meet those needs. We’re also organizing our first online educational panel that will include a variety of LGBTQ+ individuals with varying experiences and perspectives on breast health. That event is planned for November and we will share specific details on our social media pages in the near future.
We are grateful to take these first steps in launching what we believe will be a vital source of information for LGBTQ+ individuals with breast health concerns. We aim to create a safe space for those in our communities who are in the midst of these circumstances and looking for help. We want to give them the freedom to be fully authentic as they seek guidance and community support. We’re excited to lay the groundwork and start executing our programming in earnest over the next year, and we look forward to reporting back to you about our progress during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 2022.
Dina Proto, RN, is the Founder and CEO of Dina Proto International, a DE&I and LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency Consulting firm. In addition to her DE&I Healthcare Consulting firm, Dina is a Published Author, Speaker and Educator. In her book, Identity Impact: When Society’s Expectations Collide with the Authentic Self, Dina explores the clinical correlation between society’s projection of gender role and identity and healthcare disparities.
Cindi Creager is a media consultant with decades of communications experience in the news industry and LGBTQI non-profit world, including a successful tenure at ABC News, GLAAD, and her co-owned boutique public relations firm, CreagerCole Communications LLC.
A UK cervical screening pilot programme for trans men and non-binary people was so successful it could be used as a model for programmes around the world.
The pilot programme was launched in October 2019 in conjunction with the NHS as part of a study to address cervical cancer in trans and non-binary communities.
It offered weekly cervical screening clinics, only staffed by healthcare professionals with experience in treating trans and non-binary patients.
Of those who attended the clinic and gave feedback, 100 per cent were satisfied with the service, and a majority (60 per cent), said they would not have been screened if it were not for the clinic.
In the UK, screening is recommended every three years for all people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 49, and every five years for those between age 49 and 64.
“Trans men and non-binary people are often reluctant to receive cervical screening, raising their risk of undetected human papillomavirus [HPV], which could lead to cervical cancer,” said Alison May Berner, a specialty trainee and clinical research fellow in medical oncology at Barts Cancer Institute in London, a specialist registrar with the Tavistock and Portman Gender Identity Clinic and the study’s lead author, per News Medical.
The results of the study were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved this month, indicating that it could have international implications, and Berner said she wants further research to look at trans-specific cervical screenings in a GP setting.
She said: “People assume that this population’s health care-related needs are solely related to transition. That’s not true.
“Trans and non-binary people are at risk of HPV infection and cervical cancer if they continue to retain a cervix, and they stand to benefit from programs designed specifically for them.
“If you’re a trans or non-binary person living in a place where these specialist services do not exist, I would encourage you to work with a trusted health care professional to build relationships and ensure that you get the appropriate screenings, while continuing to have your identity respected.”
Bria Brown-King, 29, a Pennsylvania native, was raised as a girl. As Brown-King got older, however, they realized they were developing differently.
“I didn’t have the feminizing puberty that the other girls in my class had,” said Brown-King, who was born with an enlarged clitoris and started to develop masculine traits during puberty, including facial hair and larger muscles.
Brown-King, who has since come out as nonbinary and uses gender-neutral pronouns, was born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH, a rare condition in which the body produces high levels of androgens — hormones that influence masculine characteristics. Those with CAH are considered intersex, an umbrella term used to describe individuals whose sex characteristics do not match strictly binary definitions of male or female. While rare, at least 1 in 2,000people are born with a genital difference caused by an intersex trait, according to Human Rights Watch, an international research and advocacy group.
Though many children with CAH undergo “gender-normalizing surgery” to make the genitals look more typically female in infancy, Brown-King’s parents decided to wait until Brown-King was old enough to choose. But Brown-King said severe bullying over their appearance drove them to get the surgery at 13. Looking back, Brown-King, who now works for InterAct, an intersex advocacy group, said they would have made a different choice “had I known that it was OK to have the body that I had.”
These so-called gender-normalizing surgeries have been performed on intersex babies and toddlers since at least the 1950s — usually in secrecy, without ever telling the children when they get older. Until recently, doctors saw a genital difference as a “psychosocial emergency” and rushed to assign a gender and perform surgery, believing children would be psychologically harmed otherwise, according to Dr. Sue Stred, a retired pediatric endocrinologist who has worked with intersex youth for nearly three decades. Emergency surgery, however, is only necessary in rare cases — if a child can’t urinate properly, for example, according to medical experts who work with these children.
The exact number of hospitals that currently perform these surgeries is unknown, and only a handful specialize in such procedures. Adults who underwent these surgeries as children report mixed feelings, with many saying they have had no problems, while others say they are “just wrought with devastation” over complications, according to Kyle Knight, a senior researcher who interviewed dozens of intersex people for Human Rights Watch. Complications can include sexual dysfunction, loss of sensation, infertility and gender dysphoria, according to the report.
As more people tell their stories, an increasing number of organizations have condemned medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex youth, including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Physicians for Human Rights, the American Academy of Family Physicians, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Under mounting pressure, several hospitals have recently announced they would defer certain medically unnecessary genital surgeries until children are old enough to participate in the decision, including Lurie’s Children Hospital in Chicago, Boston Children’s Hospital and New York City Health & Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the United States.
“We empathize with intersex individuals who were harmed by the treatment that they received according to the historic standard of care and we apologize and are truly sorry,” Lurie Children’s Hospital announced in a statement last year. It was the first time a hospital had ever made such an apology.
‘The right answer right now isn’t clear’
There is fierce disagreement among doctors and advocates over whether surgical delays should extend to those with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Unlike many other intersex youths whose genetics and reproductive organs make it difficult to assign a sex, those with CAH have distinctly male or female chromosomes and sex organs — and only those assigned female at birth undergo surgery because of genital and hormonal differences.
As such, some people who work with these children wonder if delaying surgery would do more harm than good. Even adults with CAH are divided over this. A recent study from Europe, which surveyed 459 intersex adults who underwent genital surgery as children, found that 66 percent of those with CAH thought infancy or childhood was an appropriate age for this surgery, while 12 percent thought they would have been better off without it.
Given these complexities, doctors and advocates have argued over whether children with CAH should be exempt from potential laws and policies that protect them from early cosmetic surgery. This was the case last year in California, when lawmakers, advocates and physician groups sparred over whether a bill, which would ban unnecessary surgeries on children with genital differences before age 6, was too broad. The bill, which was strongly opposed by the California Medical Association and Societies for Pediatric Urology, a group that represents the doctors who treat these patients, did not pass.
“The right answer right now isn’t clear,” Dr. Beth Drzewiecki, chief of pediatric urology at Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston, said. “However, a blanket ban on surgery will not accurately support the views and voices of all of those that have variations in sex development.”
While Lurie Children’s Hospital has ended early medically unnecessary surgeries, it is considering an exemption for children with CAH, who experts say make up a majority of those who undergo feminizing surgeries. In an email, a spokeswoman for the hospital said the surgeries “will not be performed on CAH patients until we have evaluated the best practices and ethics and have released a white paper or report on the topic.”
The risks of ‘gender-normalizing surgeries’
There are no laws in the U.S. that regulate medically unnecessary gential surgeries for intersex children, Meanwhile, the current standard of care “remains an interdisciplinary team approach informed by parents’ wishes,” according to the AMA Journal of Ethics.
Taking this approach, more hospitals are hiring teams of surgeons, psychologists, social workers and genetic experts who work together to better understand a baby’s unique specific intersex trait, a process that can take weeks or even months, according to experts who work with these children. And doctors today are less likely to rush to assign a gender, though this may not always be the case.
“We still make recommendations for what gender we think the child is best going to feel, and we work that way,” Stred said. In cases where it is difficult to assign a sex, she said some doctors may recommend giving the child a gender-neutral name in case the child later disagrees with what sex they have been assigned.
Surgical techniques have improved greatly since the 1950s, with a better understanding of how to preserve sensitive nerves and tissue, according to Drzewiecki. She also said more surgeons today are giving parents options, rather than recommending surgery as a default solution.
“It’s really, I think, important to affirm to the families that their child is going to be OK with or without surgery,” she said, adding that “the most important thing is having transparency about what the risks are, and what the long-term risk over time will be, as well.”
One risk for those with CAH is stenosis, a condition in which surgically altered vaginal openings — performed in order to separate the urethra from the vaginal canal, which are typically fused in these children — can narrow over time, according to doctors. While the procedure is done to create a more typical vagina, doctors say it may be medically necessary to prevent urinary tract infections in some children, though the need for this is debated. A contentious way to prevent stenosis has been for parents or doctors to periodically insert a dilator in the opening to maintain it, though experts say this is usually traumatizing for children and, as such, is rarely done anymore.
Stenosis can lead to issues with menstruation and sex later in life, and may require additional surgery to fix, according to Dr. Frances Grimstad, a pediatric and adolescent gynecologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, who has training in these surgical repairs. And in general, she said, any early surgery performed on a child’s genitals is “playing a guessing game” as to what they will need or want in the future. Overall success rates of early surgeries are hard to pinpoint, she added, since health and insurance databases don’t accurately track them, and medical research tends to focus only on early outcomes.
“Surgeons who are doing these surgeries typically don’t follow their patients into their early 20s,” she said.
Brown-King said they developed urinary tract infections both before and after surgery and had to get additional surgery at age 19 to fix scar tissue.
“Surgery doesn’t fix everything,” they said. “I think that that’s kind of a narrative that sometimes doctors like to paint, that once you have surgery, things will be great. But that’s not necessarily the case.”
Surgery can also lead to mental health problems later in life, especially for those whose parents kept it a secret from them, according to Dr. Katharine Dalke, a psychiatrist at Penn State Health who specializes in LGBTQ and intersex populations. For many, she said, this sent a message that there was something “fundamentally wrong” with who they are, and that they “weren’t lovable otherwise.”
Parents struggle with surgery decisions
While some medical professionals are beginning to take a more nuanced and affirming approach to intersex care, the decision to perform early surgery remains in the hands of parents, who vary widely in their attitudes toward sex and gender. And many struggle to cope with the challenges of raising a child with a gential difference in a world that wants to know, “Is your baby a boy or a girl?” Under this pressure, parents may feel that “doing nothing equals doing harm,” according to Stred.
However, doctors say more parents are deciding to delay surgery, though it’s unclear how common this is. Those who make this choice often navigate a difficult journey alone, with few support groups or resources to guide them.
NBC News spoke to the father of a 6-year-old girl with CAH, who requested that his name not be published to protect his daughter’s privacy. So far, she identifies as a girl, though she is gender-nonconforming, and has had no issues with urinary tract infections, he said.
While he wants her to have “autonomy in determining her own identity,” he also said he worries she will resent him for not getting the surgery. He said he would let her get the surgery when she is old enough to decide.
“My fear is that she will want to do the surgery because of social pressure or peer pressure, and doing something simply to conform or avoid being different, I would have a harder time supporting,” he explained.
Dalke said that helping kids with genital differences begins with understanding “there’s nothing inherently pathological about” them, and that with help from parents and mental health providers, they can learn how to cope with bullying and even thrive.
For this reason, intersex advocates have fought for better education and psychological support for parents, and some lawmakers have begun to listen. That was the case this year when the New York City Council passed a bill that requires the city’s health department to provide intersex-inclusive education to parents and doctors.
There are hospitals that already provide psychological counseling for parents of intersex children, and some parents still struggle in spite of it. Recalling one mother who body-shamed her child during visits, Drzewiecki said children raised in nonaffirming environments are susceptible to psychological harm. And while it’s ideal to raise these children in an affirming way, she said, it’s “unrealistic” to expect that of “everybody in our society right now.”
As for Brown-King, they said surgery did not spare them from bullying, nor are they “worried about finding love” over the way they look. When asked whether those with CAH should be excluded from surgical delays, they posed a different question: “Why aren’t we having conversations with our children about the different ways to have a body?”
“There’s no such thing as having a clitoris that’s too large,” Brown-King said. “In the same way that penises come in all different shapes and sizes, so do clitorises. Why can’t we start to push that narrative instead?”
I’ve been around long enough in politics and corporate America to recognize overt signs of power grabs and people who would stampede over their mothers to get what they want. Oftentimes, it’s done abruptly, while in other instances, it’s done stealthily and slowly, chip, chip, chipping away until they finally get what they want — regardless of who has to pay the price.
When I worked on the Hill, the annual visit to congressional offices by pro-life forces on January 22, which was the anniversary of the passage of Roe v. Wade, was always a day to be dreaded if you were a congressional staffer. They were among the most stubborn, and paradoxically rudest people who came to lobby.
I remember one time, a pro-life woman dropped the file folders all over the reception area in our office, and I leaned over to help her pick them up. Instead of saying thank you, she seethed, “If you are pro-choice, leave my papers alone.” We weren’t — and aren’t — dealing with rational people.
For nearly 50 years, the pro-life movement has been laser-focused on overturning Roe v. Wade, so much so that many held their noses to support Donald Trump, because he had promised them Supreme Court justice nominations, as well as lower court judges.
It was the pro-life and conservative dream to obtain a lop-sided majority at the Supreme Court. Despite the fact that Democratic presidents have been in power 17 out of the last 29 years, that wish came true with the confirmation of right-wing darling Amy Coney Barrett, who was rushed through after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and pushed the number of conservative justices to the magic number of six.
The court, now, is known as the Roberts Court, since he is chief justice, and he has been twisting himself in knots to try and create a sense of balance about his court, by voting with the liberals on occasion. Roberts is fearful that his branded court will become one of the most divisive and negatively consequential.
Take the court’s ruling on the horiffic Texas abortion law last month: despite Roberts’ vote against it, the measure was upheld. The law basically makes abortion illegal and those who try to seek one at the risk of getting arrested by citizen vigilantes. This, as CNN reported that 70% of Americans disagree with the idea of allowing private citizens to bring lawsuits against abortion providers.
The court is definitely on its way to overturning Roe v. Wade, a fantasy that will come true due to the 18thcentury thinking of justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Coney Barrett. It’s only a matter of time. They’ve been outspoken through their careers about the illegality of Roe v. Wade, except of course when they testified at their Senate confirmation hearings, and lied through their teeth that they wouldn’t cast votes dictated by their personal convictions.
They are die-hard anti-abortion activists – yes, activists not judges. And, if you want the unvarnished and unmitigated truth, and they are also rigidly opposed to gay marriage; therefore, you can bet your last dollar that they will now start to chip away at marriage equality. It’s virtually a guarantee, and they’ve already hinted that they will.
When the court refused to hear a case brought by that nutty Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis last October, who wouldn’t abide by the law and issue marriage licenses, Justices Alito and Thomas, in their dissent, went ballisic on the decision that secured marriage equality nationally.
Thomas, writing for himself and Alito, said that the decision “enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots, making their religious liberty concerns that much easier to dismiss.” And that the Davis case “…may have been one of the first victims of this court’s cavalier treatment of religion in its Obergefell decision.”
And their final dart: “…Obergefell will continue to have ruinous consequences for religious liberty.”
We wrote previously about Jonathan Mitchell, the architect of that slimy Texas abortion law. My colleague, Trudy Ring penned that Mitchell “…has invited the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn or at least severely undermine key LGBTQ+ rights decisions — the ones that struck down sodomy bans and established marriage equality.”
Mitchell filed what is called an amicus brief, or a friend of the court, in support of the Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy except “in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality.” As Ring wrote, “Two federal courts have blocked the law, but the state is appealing to the Supreme Court, which just today announced the date for the hearing. It is widely seen as the case that could overturn Roe.”
In the brief, Mitchell calls for Roe to be overturned, and said that a decision to overturn could open the door for other “lawless” rights and protections to be reversed, including the right to have gay sex and the right to same-sex marriage.
According to a story in The Guardian, “While the majority of the justices stressed that they had not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the Texas law itself, the ruling showed that the majority was receptive to Mitchell’s legal strategy.”
You can be sure that Thomas and Alito are chomping at the bit to outlaw gay sex, and do away with gay marriage, and they will do it by chip, chip, chipping away. They now have three other comrades on their side, who are equally opposed to gay sex, and gay marriage, because it goes against their fervent religious beliefs.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the ominous signs, particularly for gay marriage, and he was nonchalant about the doom that may – and is most likely – to lie ahead. “They can’t do away with gay marriage, since so many are married. How do you undo that?”
Pretty easily, it turns out. There should be no denying that a major attempt on trampling our rights is being mounted. The Texas law was a harbinger that the court’s conservative members have no issue overturning precedent if it goes against their vaunted Christian beliefs. It almost seems like a forgone conclusion that they will uphold the equally destructive Mississippi abortion law, which at 15 weeks is “less” severe than the Texas law, So why wouldn’t they support the “watered down” law?
We will indeed see Roe v. Wade come under its most ruthless assault.
And, do you think that these Justices, and all those who lobbied for them, and supported them and voted for them will just stop at Roe? Think again. They are on a mission to do away with all of the progress made for women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights over the last five decades. Thomas and Alito said out loud what the others are thinking: Being gay, being married, and being equal is an affront to zealous religious doctrine. It goes against the grain. You cannot be gay, and be Christian, in their eyes.
Sometimes it’s as if our community takes things for granted, particularly the younger generation. They aren’t aware of all the fighting and hard work it took to get our community where it is today. They see an administration that strongly supports them; yet, they seem blissfully unaware of the stealthily and silent assault coming our way by a Supreme Court cloaked in black and in secrecy.
If the court has the arrogance to actually strip away LGBTQ+ rights and marriages, it will start a fierce war. Corporate America has rallied strongly in support of gay marriage. So has the military. Most of society has moved beyond whether or not gay marriage is right or wrong. It’s more of a fact than a law.
But the fact is that there are evil forces out there who want to do away with our right to marry, including five very powerful people. The Texas abortion ruling has invigorated the religious right. And so long as the court upholds laws like it, and inevitably Mississippi’s, we should be prepared to watch them dismantle gay marriage.
Can you imagine anti-gay marriage and anti-gay sex vigilantes turning us in for cash rewards, similar to abortion? Just think about that for a moment, because the way the court is ruling these days, that’s not out of the realm of possibilities.