HEALTH
Hoylman Pushes Ban on Nonconsensual Intersex Surgery
Health leaders have criticized operations, interventions on infants’ genitals
BY MATT TRACY
Out gay State Senator
Brad Hoylman of Manhattan
will introduce a
bill requiring informed
consent by an intersex minor before
doctors can perform nonmedically
necessary treatment or
intervention on that individual, he
announced on November 8, Intersex
Day of Solidarity.
Hoylman’s bill responds to growing
concerns voiced by health
experts and intersex advocates
about the long-term effects of genital
surgeries on infants and children.
Intersex individuals, who are
born with reproductive systems or
anatomy that do not fi t the standard
defi nition of male or female,
have often been forced to undergo
surgery intended to align their
bodies with either male or female
anatomy. Most of those surgeries
Intersex rights advocate Kimberly Zieselman did not learn until she was an adult that genital surgery
she underwent as a child were due to her intersex identity.
are widely considered unnecessary,
and many intersex people experience
stress later in life because
those surgeries do not refl ect their
gender identities.
In June, City Health Commissioner
INTERACTADVOCATES.ORG
Dr. Oxiris Barbot and Human
Rights Commissioner Carmelyn
P. Malalis wrote an op-ed for
ozy.com in which they called on
medical professionals “to respect
the rights of intersex people, use
compassionate care with children,
and only perform surgery when
the health of a child is at imminent
risk or it is consensual.”
Numerous intersex advocates
say the surgeries that are deemed
unnecessary have often led to pain,
sterilization, negative psychological
effects, and loss of genital sensitivity.
The Intersex Society of North
America and the American Academy
of Family Physicians have both
called for an end to medically unnecessary
genital surgeries.
Hoylman said he moved ahead
with plans for the legislation after
meeting with advocates at inter-
ACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth
and listening to their experiences.
“Experts estimate there are more
than 140,000 New Yorkers with intersex
traits — they deserve autonomy
over their bodies,” Hoylman
➤ INTERSEX SURGERY, continued on p.31
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