I didn't testify.
We left around 3 PM and they hadn't even covered the first bill and they was because there were dozens of people signed up to testify, the bill was to make some vaccines mandatory so that brought out the anti-vaxxers. Judging by the number of people ahead of us on the list to testify we would probably have been there until midnight.
So here is my written testimony.
Dear Co-Chairs and Committee Members,
The Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition would like to urge you to vote in favor of SB 388 AAC Concerning A Person’s Intersex Status Or Characteristics. The passage of the bill will have a positive effect on the intersex community.
The Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition has stood by our intersex friends in 2003 for an intersex demonstration with Bodies Like Ours at the Ct Children's Medical Center and we now stand by them in favor of this bill. No one should have surgery that is not medically necessary without their consent.
On Public Med the report, Navigating Surgical Decision Making in Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) says in part,
… “reconstructive surgery has always been a substantial part of DSD care and has remained so for many years seemingly without debate”; then noted “this has changed dramatically following disquieting reports of unfavorable outcomes, including high complication and/or reoperation rates and patient dissatisfaction”
Furthermore the surgery is not without complications, it is major surgery and it is being performed on infants and the surgery might cause a lifetime of complications. The Public Med report goes on to state,
Some activist organizations have urged governments worldwide to ban elective genital surgeries without the individual's informed consent. This suggests two future possibilities: one where all non-urgent procedures are eliminated until adulthood and one that leaves decisions to parents, providers, and patients—as they become increasingly able to provide assent as they mature
There also have been studies that show that there is high dissatisfaction rate of children that had forced “normalization surgeries” as infants, and the studies recommend waiting until the child is old enough understand and make an informed choice on having the surgery.
In a United Nations Special Rapporteur report they state,
The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to repeal any law allowing intrusive and irreversible treatments, including forced genital-normalizing surgery…
In addition a Human Rights Watch article on intersex surgery report that former US Surgeons-General are against forced intersex surgeries,
In July 2017, three former US Surgeons-General, wrote that they believed “there is insufficient evidence that growing up with atypical genitalia leads to psychosocial distress,” and “while there is little evidence that cosmetic infant genitoplasty is necessary to reduce psychological damage, evidence does show that the surgery itself can cause severe and irreversible physical harm and emotional distress.” They said: “These surgeries violate an individual’s right to personal autonomy over their own future.”
The Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition is also in favor of providing for a third option for gender designation on state documentation and personal identification records. As more children and adolescents come out as gender non-conforming or gender neutral it is becoming vital to have a gender neutral option on state IDs.
Other states have added a third option on their state IDs, five states — including California, Colorado, Oregon, and Maine, and Washington D.C. offer gender-neutral options. In addition United States District Court for the District of Colorado Judge R. Brooke Jackson has ordered the State Department to issue a gender-neutral passport.
The Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition respectfully asks that the Public Health Committee pass SB-388.
Update: 8:00 PM
They called my name at 7:45 PM
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