Warning! Long post ahead.

If you know me, you know that I'm intersex. What does that mean? It means that I was born with one of over 30 different variations of sexual development. In my case, it's Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome (PMDS). This is a very rare condition that occurs in men with completely normal phenotypes, and it's characterized by the presence of Müllerian duct structures. In a nutshell, this means that I was born with the internal anatomy of a female complete with a uterus that terminated into a blind sack and ova-testicles (which is a combination of ovaries and testicles). They were located where ovaries would normally be. I had the external anatomy of a male. I was assigned male at birth because my penis met the minimum requirements to be assigned male. I also have sub coronal hypospadias and chordee.

I experienced countless surgeries as a child in an attempt to correct what the medical profession claimed was undescended testicles. This was not the case. But in the 1950s nobody in the medical profession was being taught about the different variations of intersex or what the medical profession likes to call it “disorders of sexual development” (DSD). None of the surgeries in my childhood were successful nor did I consent to any of them. I didn't find out I was intersex until I was 46 years old. In 2014, I had a radical hysterectomy. One of only two performed on a male ever recorded in Clark County history.

Why do I bring this up? Because nearly 2.7% of the global population experiences an intersex condition. This is equivalent to the occurrence of a natural redhead. Why is this important? Because of the anti-transgender agenda currently being pushed by far-right GOP politicians across the country. Their binary view of gender is completely and utterly incorrect and people like me are physical evidence to suggest that gender is not binary and that gender does not belong under the same category as genitals. Gender has been associated with genitals for centuries. That doesn't make it right. So, if you want to play the biology card when you start talking about gender, how would you gender me when I was born? Was I male? Was I female? Or was I somewhere in between? You see, gender isn't that easy, is it?

Why am I writing this? Because all of this anti-transgender legislation affects the intersex community just as much as the transgender community and it needs to stop. If you still hold the viewpoint that there are only two genders, I find it very difficult to be friends with you. If you wish to open your mind and learn more, I would be happy to have a discussion with you. As always, I will answer questions, but I will not entertain anyone who brings disinformation to the table as evidence.

Thanks for reading.