Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Intersex-Affirming Hospital Policy Guide Published
Follows Legislative Acknowledgement of Non-consensual Surgeries
2018-09-14

This article shared 881 times since Fri Sep 14, 2018
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


( New York, NY ) — interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, Lambda Legal, and Proskauer Rose LLP have released the nation's first intersex-affirming hospital policy guide, offering concrete steps for medical providers to provide sensitive, non-discriminatory care to intersex patients. "Intersex" describes up to 1.7% of the population born with natural variations in chromosomes, hormones, or genitalia that transcend an outdated understanding of biological sex as a male/female binary.

The guide's release corresponds to the first successful legislation in the United States acknowledging the non-consensual surgeries faced by intersex people. Passed in August by the state of California, SCR-110 calls for the creation of clear policy encouraging the delay of cosmetic procedures until an intersex individual is old enough to make an informed decision.

Often performed during childhood, the surgeries have been condemned by major human rights groups such as the United Nations, Physicians for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch, as well as every intersex-led organization in the world.

The guide outlines recommended policies including the provision of affirming mental health care and patient-centered decision making to avoid non-consensual interventions such as clitoral reductions, vaginoplasties, and phalloplasties. Although genital variations typically pose no health risks, many intersex patients report significant trauma resulting from non-consensual medical interventions performed in infancy that can be safely delayed until they are old enough to participate in the decision.

"Solid policy that takes into consideration the needs of the community is essential to giving intersex patients the care that they deserve," writes urologist and interACT Board member Ilene Wong.

"Without a doubt, this guide will improve medical practice because it's centered on intersex people's own experiences. Historically we've been a demographic that has not been consulted about our own care," says Hans Lindahl, interACT's Director of Communications and an intersex person herself.

"Lambda Legal is proud to partner with an intersex-led organization in the creation of this guide. It is imperative that groups committed to fighting discrimination on the basis of sex recognize that the violence faced by intersex people is a result of the same fear that impacts the LGBT community, especially in the healthcare field," says M. Dru Levasseur, Director of the Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal.

Providers interested in adapting intersex-inclusive policies are encouraged to contact interACT regarding implementation. The guidelines replicate the model of Lambda Legal's widely successful Transgender-Affirming Hospital Policies Guide.

interACT, Lambda Legal, and Proskauer Rose LLP collaborated with intersex patients and physicians from different specialities to create Intersex-Affirming Hospital Policies: Providing Ethical and Compassionate Health Care to Intersex Patients, available as a free PDF download. Hard copies are available upon request via Lambda Legal.

interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth uses innovative advocacy strategies to protect the rights of intersex youth. Lambda Legal is a national leader in the fight for LGBT civil rights. Proskauer Rose, LLP, a top global trial team, advances justice with a broad roster of pro bono clients.

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

—From a press release


This article shared 881 times since Fri Sep 14, 2018
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Brown Elephant Returns To Northalsted
2024-03-26
Brown Elephant's Lake View location is moving to Northalsted and already accepting donations. Howard Brown Health, the largest LGBTQ+ health center in the midwest, operates three Brown Elephant resale shops in the Chicagoland area to help ...


Gay News

An interstate trans healthcare crisis: Illinois prepares for influx of people seeking gender-affirming care
2024-03-26
With hard-won rights, such as access to hormone replacement therapy or permission to use one's chosen pronouns in school, breaking down in states across the country, trans residents of all ages are left with a choice: ...


Gay News

Planned Parenthood of Illinois expands Orland Park health center
2024-03-26
--From a press release - ORLAND PARK, Ill. - Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) announces the expansion of its existing Orland Park Health Center at 14470 S. LaGrange Rd., Suite 106. The 1,800-square-foot expansion is projected to increase sexual and reproductive ...


Gay News

Wyoming is latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors
2024-03-24
On March 22, Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, The Hill noted. In doing so, it joined 23 other states that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment. Legislators in both ...


Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course
2024-03-18
Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

WORLD Leaked messages, Panama action, author dies at 32, Japan court, out athletes
2024-03-15
Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a report and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer, according to ...


Gay News

UK health service to stop routinely prescribing puberty blockers to minors
2024-03-14
NHS (National Health Service) England confirmed that children will no longer routinely be prescribed puberty blockers at gender-identity clinics, the BBC reported. The decision came after a review found there was "not enough evidence" that they ...


Gay News

One Roof Chicago launches youth-focused workforce development program
2024-03-14
One Roof Chicago (ORC) is set to launch its first training, education and job placement program for LGBTQ+ young adults in late spring. This Community Health Workers and Elder Care program is a part of ORC's ...


Gay News

Howard Brown experts discuss advocacy and allyship for Chicago's trans community
2024-03-14
By Alec Karam - Howard Brown Health's Trans & Gender Diverse People's Rights & Patient Care panel convened March 12 to discuss both resources for—and opportunities to provide allyship to—the city's trans and gender diverse communities. The event hos ...


Gay News

Howard Brown Health faces October trial if settlement isn't reached with union
2024-03-13
Howard Brown Health could go to trial over unfair labor practice allegations if the LGBTQ+ health center doesn't reach a settlement with its agreement soon. Chicago's regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed ...


Gay News

Pro-choice activists protest crisis pregnancy center on International Women's Day
2024-03-11
The rainy weather on March 8 didn't deter a passionate group of pro-choice protesters from gathering in Old Town on International Women's Day. Following the opening of Women's Care Center—a crisis pregnancy center—directly next to Pl ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle
2024-03-08
Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

Pride 365 event emphasizes year-round support for LGBTQ+ employees
2024-03-07
Queer employees are queer all year-round. The need for employers to accordingly support and uplift them year-round was the core message at Howard Brown Health and Citywide Pride's Pride 365 "Out of Office to Out in ...


Gay News

AMA launches toolkit to increase screenings for HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis
2024-03-06
Press release - CHICAGO — With disruptions in clinical care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and viral hepatitis across the U.S., the American Medical Association ...


Gay News

APA adopts policy supporting transgender, gender diverse and non-binary individuals
2024-02-28
From a press release: WASHINGTON—The American Psychological Association (APA) has adopted a landmark policy affirming evidence-based care for transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary children, adolescents and adults, noting that recent ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.