Sep 30th, 2002
PFLAG adopts policy statement inclusive of intersex issues
At PFLAG’s national conference on September 27-29, intersex activists presented the workshop, “Why Should PFLAG Care About Intersex?”
Janet Green, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the non-profit organization Bodies Like Ours, presented the workshop with co-founder Betsy Driver and ISNA board member Kimberly Saviano. Green points out that there is plenty of overlap when it comes to intersex and GLBT issues. “Chemically, hormonally, chromosomally and biologically, many intersexed people have a tremendously difficult journey trying to fit into the ‘male’ OR ‘female’ binary,” Green says.
PFLAG’s newly released policy statement commits to being sensitive to the needs of intersex persons and their families, welcoming them to the organization as “fully participating members.” The policy statement explains, “In our culture, sexual variation which blurs the line between male and female is stigmatized. The presence of a genital anomaly often elicits feelings of guilt and shame.”
Green, adds, “PFLAG’s vision and mission statements [of respect, dignity and equality for all human beings] fit hand-in-hand with the new Patient-Centered Protocol that urges physicians and family to wait on all unnecessary cosmetic genital surgeries on intersexed infants.”
For more information:
The Intersex Society of North America
“ISNA is devoted to systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female.”
Bodies Like Ours
“Peer support and information for people born with atypical genitalia”
PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays)
Support, Education, Advocacy