Council bill would encourage parents to delay gender-assignment procedures for intersex infants

A new bill from Councilmember Dromm seeks to protect the autonomy of intersex children through adult education. Photo via Zoom

By Rachel Vick

Bria Brown-King was born with a condition that causes their body to produce higher levels of testosterone, leading to a deeper voice and hair growth typically associated with men. They also have ovaries, a uterus and XX chromosomes.

When Brown-King was growing up, there was little understanding or education about nonbinary gender physiology and identity. 

There still isn’t, they told members of the City Council during a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would require the city Health Department to create informational resources that doctors and hospitals can provide families of children born with intersex traits. 

The legislation, introduced by Councilmember Danny Dromm last year, is designed to encourage families to delay gender assignment surgery until a child is old enough to have a say in the decision.

“Parents and doctors make decisions about intersex children’s bodies because they deem it medically necessary based on their own fears that intersex bodies aren’t healthy, when the standards for what typically makes someone’s body considered healthy is deeply flawed,” said Brown-King, the director of engagement at advocacy group InterACT.

They were diagnosed with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, one of many intersex variations.

“Doctors don't want to talk about cases like mine where surgeries don’t go as planned,” Brown-King said. “Intersex bodies are not the problem — we are perfect as we are.” 

About 1.7 percent of babies are born intersex, according to InterACT.

Dromm’s bill, co-sponsored by 10 other councilmembers, would enable more families and medical providers to better understand and accept intersex identities.

“The cornerstone to sexual and reproductive rights is the right we all have to autonomy and control over our destinies,” Dromm said. “Sadly, much of the medical profession has been profiting over violating the fundamental rights of intersex individuals, namely in the form of medically unnecessary surgeries.

The bill, he said, is “about empowering people with knowledge, and no one should be afraid of that.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to wait until a child can decide about optional medicines and procedures related to the physical expression of their gender identity, according to the Intersex Society of North America. 

Though the Health Department supports the bill and is committed to furthering the efforts outlined, the department is currently prioritizing COVID-19 materials, said DOHMH Deputy Commissioner Dr. Demetre Daskalakis.

But advocate Scout Silverstein said the legislation was crucial to the future health of children born intersex.

“I reject the notion that this bill needs to take a backseat,” Silverstein said. “Delaying this extremely necessary and uncomplicated bill perpetuates irreparable harm.”

Silverstein likened gender assignment surgeries at birth to female genital mutilation, which is illegal in New York and most U.S. states. 

New York City has only provided “inadequate, uninformed and harmful healthcare” to the thousands of intersex individuals living here, they added. 

Intersex traits present in various ways, including differences in hormones, gender-determining chromosomes or ambiguous genitals, according the American Psychological Association. Though those traits rarely require immediate medical attention, parents often seek to surgeries or procedures to fit their children into the gender binary, the organization adds.

Last year, former Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot wrote an op-ed for the website Ozy condemning infant intersex surgeries, which are also rejected by agencies like the United Nations and Amnesty International.

InterACT Law and Policy Director Alesdair Ittelson said healthcare providers at times see a financial incentive to perform the expensive surgeries.

“There is no proven medical benefits associated with performing these surgeries before the intersex individual can participate in these weighty decision,” Ittelson said.

Ittelson said the organization was “grateful” for the legislation, but asked for an amendment to include an advisory group made up of intersex individuals and advocates that would oversee the campaign.

“Healthy intersex variations can be celebrated rather than surgically erased,” he said.