MALTA: Parliament considering intersex protection

The Times of Malta
February 16, 2015

Healthy hermaphrodite’ is both man and woman

Castrated at seven – but now welcoming Malta’s stance on ‘intersex’

by Claudia Calleja
When Tony Briffa was seven years old doctors in Australia made a choice that was never theirs to make – castration.

Tony was born with healthy testes, as well as a vagina, and doctors decided it made more sense for Tony to live life as a woman – called Antoinette.

But Tony – who was born intersex – never felt comfortable being a woman, or a man for that matter.
“Nature – many would say God – made me a healthy hermaphrodite... I tried my best to be a woman but I couldn’t keep up the lie forever. Something was going to give.

“At 30 I rejected what the doctors had done to me and started living life as a man. I was open about my past, about the way I was born, and what doctors had done to me. Now, at the age of 44, I am comfortable explaining I am both a man and a woman,” Tony tells Times of Malta.

It is because of this personal bitter experience that Tony, born to Maltese immigrants in Australia, is glad that the Maltese government is doing something about this through the Gender Identity Bill, currently being debated in Parliament.

The draft Bill proposes prohibiting doctors from carrying out surgery on intersex children unless it is a medical emergency.

It also allows parents to wait until an intersex child turns 14 to officially register the gender as male or female.

Tony agrees that the law should not allow doctors to change the physical sex of a child, unless it is medically essential. “Sadly, castrations and physical sex changes are exactly what happen to children all over the world – it happened to me. As a Maltese person I am very proud Malta is the first country to stand up and put a stop to it,” says Tony who was born with Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.

“I was born with the same chromosomal pattern and testes like typical boys but because my body doesn’t fully respond to testosterone I was also born with a vagina.

“Doctors decided I should be raised as a girl because my genitals appeared more female than male, but incredibly they also chose to castrate me even though there was no medical need to remove my healthy testes and they didn’t know what I would want when I was older,” Tony adds.

Tony spent many years on female hormone treatment but never identified with the imposed gender.
"Doctors decided I should be raised as a girl because my genitals appeared more female than male, but incredibly they also chose to castrate me even though there was no medical need.

“I struggled being the girl and woman doctors wanted me to be. How could I deny the real me and keep up the charade? How would I have relationships? I was lonely, confused and profoundly sad.
“Although I threw myself into my career, community work and music, my personal life suffered enormously. It affected my relationship with my parents and siblings and I avoided intimate relationships.

“I often considered ending my life,” Tony recalls.

At the age of 30 Tony renounced this imposition and lived as a man for some time. But this too felt wrong.

Tony then understood that happiness lay in being true to nature – and embracing both genders.

Armed with this new confidence Tony became the first openly intersex mayor in the Western World – serving as deputy mayor of the City of Hobsons Bay, Victoria, between 2009 and 2011, and mayor between 2011 and 2012.

Tony believes the Gender Identity Bill is important because it will stop doctors from imposing genders.

It will also ensure people could have their gender recognised without having to lie and be ashamed.
Tony has had a female and a male birth certificate and now has a blank one. Legal issues presented by Tony’s non-specific birth certificate meant marriage was not possible in Australia where the law only allows a union between a man and a woman. In September 2013, Tony married Manja Sommeling in New Zealand.

Documents, Tony believes, should not refer to a person’s gender “because it’s irrelevant”. But, if gender markers are to stay, then there should be ‘M’ or ‘F’ for those who feel male or female.

There should, however, also be additional categories such as ‘M and F’ for adult intersex people that want their sex to be recognised for what nature made them, and ‘X’ for people who feel outside of the male and female categories.

“Personally, I would not want ‘X’ on my documentation,” Tony says.

NIGERIA: "Girl" found to be intersexed at circumcision

Sun News Online
July 4, 2014

Baby born with female, male sex organs

by Gilbert Ekezie and Doris Obinna
When little Success Chisom Aniekwe was born one year ago, joy filled the hearts of his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Emmanuel Aniekwe, from Anam Community, in Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State. He was a chubby baby, full of life.However, the baby’s birth took a twist about eight days thereafter, when it was discovered that he had two sex organs, male and female. Ever since, pain has become a constant companion of the baby.

Now frail, with constant pain, especially when urinating, which comes through what would pass for female private part, under a little penis, the baby has been in and out of hospital, where tests and surgeries have been recommended.

Recounting her predicament, mother of the baby, Mrs. Chekwube Aniekwe, told Daily Sun that the scan she did, while pregnant, showed that the baby was a girl. She, however, stated that her confusion started when the woman, who gave the baby its first bath said the sex organ was not pronounced. The confusion increased when the mother moved to circumcise the baby, as the family wanted to circumcise its female children.

“Eight days of the baby’s birth, we went for the circumcision, when the woman noticed that my baby had both male and female organs. When the woman wanted to cut her clitoris, she said the baby was not a girl. She advised us to go back to his hospital of birth,” she stated

[So would that have been a cruel mutilation intended to destroy her sexuality forever, or a healthy medical procedure with lifelong benefits for every boy and man? Inquiring minds want to know.]

The confused mother of three explained that she went back to the hospital, where the medical director examined the baby.

She said: “When the doctor looked at the baby’s case, he quickly referred us to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. When we got there, we were made to understand that we needed to do some tests before surgeries could be done to correct the anomaly. At the hospital, a pharmacist directed us to Isolo General Hospital. On getting to there, they said they could not handle the case.”
The parents’ quest for solution did not stop there, as they also went to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH.

Mrs. Aniekwe said: “When we got LUTH, we were told surgeries were needed but would come only after some tests. We have not been able to do the tests because of lack of finance.”

“The last time we went to LUTH was in December 2013. At that time, one of the specialists told us that there would likely be two surgeries. We were also asked to do a hormone test to know whether the baby has womb, to know if another surgery would be added.”
...

“We made several attempts to raise money for the necessary tests but we could not and that is why we have not gone back to the hospital till now. Presently, we do not know what it would cost us to do the tests and the surgeries,” she stated.

The woman further explained her baby’s condition has caused the family a lot of pain and embarrassment. “I am being embarrassed by the problem of the baby. Everywhere, I go, people get confused, as to whether the baby is a boy or girl. Initially, I used to dress the baby like girl. I also pierced the ears and put earrings. But as time passed, the baby’s look changed to that of a boy. People tell me my baby resembles a boy. Within me, I know that there is a problem. It was when the face started changing to a boy that I started giving him a hair-cut and dressing him like a boy, even when the ears are pierced,” she stated.

Her husband, Emmanuel, described the case as a very serious challenge that has confronted the family. He, however, expressed optimism that surgeries, as doctors have recommended, would remedy the situation.

“I will be very grateful if I could be assisted financially, so that the surgeries would be done. The baby is always in pains and too tender to be undergoing such. ...

SOUTH CAROLINA: Intersex child castration case to proceed

wyff
April 10, 2014

DSS loses motion to delay case of intersex child

Child indentifies himself as a boy, despite surgery to remove genitals
GREENVILLE, S.C. —A case that accuses the Department of Social Services and medical care givers of performing unnecessary sex-assignment surgery on an intersex baby will proceed.

The decision of the 5th Judicial Circuit Court to let the case continue means the defendants will have to defend their choice to castrate the baby, who has since grown into a healthy 8-year-old who identifies himself only as a boy, named in court documents as M.C.

“The court’s decision moves M.C. a step closer to justice,” said Kristi Graunke, Southern Poverty Law Center senior supervising attorney. “This ruling holds doctors accountable when they recommend such drastic and irreversible procedures for infants but fail to ensure caregivers are fully informed about the risks and options.”

M.C. was born with an intersex condition -- a difference in reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definition of male or female. When he was just 16 months old and in the care of the South Carolina Department of Social Services, doctors and department officials decided the child should undergo sex assignment surgery to make M.C. a girl.

“Our young client was profoundly harmed when doctors and state agents decided to remove his penis and testicles,” said Anne Tamar-Mattis, co-counsel from Advocates for Informed Choice. “We look forward to continuing the fight on M.C.’s behalf and to ensuring that no child ever has to undergo such life-altering surgeries without informed consent.”

The plaintiffs say DSS and medical staff made the decision even though there was no way of knowing at such an early age whether M.C. would grow up to be a male or female.

The lawsuit, filed by the child’s adoptive parents, claims the defendants did not even provide a hearing to determine whether the procedure was in M.C.’s best interests.

Named in the suit are the Department of Social Services, the Medical University of South Carolina, Greenville Health System and several other caregivers.

M.C. was born a premature twin at Greenville Memorial Hospital in November 2004. The biological parents would not take them home. One baby died. M.C. was abandoned in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Three months later, the Department of Social Services stepped in. Court records show the biological parents relinquished their rights.

Mark and Pam Crawford were looking to adopt a child with special needs. They would come to love M.C., but by the time they entered the picture, there was nothing they could do. The life-changing surgery was already done.

Pam Crawford said, "We looked at the situation, saw how adorable the child was, and said, 'We can do that.' It didn't really seem like such a special need to us."

Court records indicate that at birth, M.C. was identified as a male. During a reflux surgery, female organs were discovered. Doctors at the Greenville Hospital System concluded the baby was a "true hermaphrodite."

They referred the case to the Medical University of South Carolina where ultimately, sex re-assignment surgery was performed in April 2006 on the then 1-year-old.
...

"It's too late for my son, but we want to put other doctors on notice," said Mark Crawford who noted the action was "drastic and permanent."

The lawsuit says doctors, acting as agents of defendant hospitals, performed the surgery for the purpose of "assigning" the child the female gender despite their own conclusion that the toddler "was a true hermaphrodite but there was no compelling reason that she should either be made male or female."

The defendants decided to remove the child's healthy genital tissue and "radically restructure his reproductive organs in order to make his body appear to be female," the lawsuit states.

The suit filed in federal court alleges the defendants violated the child's right to privacy by deciding to go forward with the surgery. The state suit alleges medical malpractice and gross negligence.
...

Once the child was placed in state custody, the Department of Social Services was responsible for any and all medical decisions. By law, major surgery is something that should have gone all the way to the top.

Within months of M.C.'s surgery, the DSS director at the time, Kelly Aydlette, left her post. She's named in the lawsuit, along with DSS, four doctors and two hospitals.

According to court documents, the decision to turn M.C. into a girl never went before a judge.

No guardian was appointed. And it does not appear the doctors requested an ethical consultation.

Bioethicist Carmela Epright said, "I suspect strongly the reason this didn't go before a judge is because no one thought this was a hard question. They thought they had the answer."
...
.

"He wasn't sick in any way. What he was, was a problem from an adoption standpoint," Epright said.
That being said, Epright doesn't believe the Crawfords will win in court.
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"When he started going to school, picking up friends, it was clear that he thought of himself as a boy," Pam Crawford said.
...

"It's not like he turned into a boy," she said. "He's the same exact child he's always been."

For the rest of his life, M.C. must live with a choice made for him by strangers. The only thing he got to choose was his new name.

The Crawfords hope his story will help other families understand that surgery isn't the only option.

"My greatest fear is that these things might keep happening, Crawford said, "My fear for him specifically is that he will hate his body."
...
 
Dr. William F. Schmidt, medical director of the GHS Children's Hospital, sent WYFF a statement saying, "A thorough review of the medical files will show that treatment this child received while under our care was consistent with the highest standards of medical practice and medical ethics." [Well he would say that, wouldn't he?]

Earlier story

NEW SOUTH WALES: "Non-specific" gender recognised

Supreme Court of New South Wales
June 17, 2013

State recognises "non-specific" gender

by Hugh Young

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that a person's gender may be recorded as "non-specific"

A person identifed as Norrie was born male in Scotland, but later undertook surgery, because they identified as "having a non specific gender identity".

Norrie applied to the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to change their registered name and sex. The Registrar at first approved the change of sex to "not specified" but three weeks later said the approval had been issued in error and changed the sex to "not stated". Norrie applied for review and was turned down, appealed and was turned down again.

Now after considering the law in detail, the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that registration of sex is not confined to "male" or female" but may include a non-specific category.

While Norrie was born male, this legal recognition will be of value to people born with Variations of Sex Development (commonly known as "intersexed" or "hermaphrodite") and want to be officially recognised as such.