MEDICINE, as we often point out, is not a science but a technical art that sometimes makes reference to science. Medical people are as subject to systems of belief – religions and ideologies unsupported by scientific inquiry – as non-medical people.

Systems of belief, by their very nature of being based on belief, have little use for observable facts. That is what The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is guilty of in pretending that intersex is transgender when it is not.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Health Care for Transgender Individuals - click to download and read this PDF.

ACOG is making stuff up, is putting forward a Big Lie, is doing damage to intersex people’s struggle for human rights and is creating a very bad precedent for the health of intersex people.

ACOG paper – Health Care for Transgender Individuals – which pretends that intersex is transgender actually has nothing to say about medical treatment specifically for intersex people. It is all about transgender people and what they need.

This paper could actually be dangerous to the health of intersex people, especially if US obstetricians and gynecologists start refusing to deal with the facts of what intersex clients really need and try to treat us as if we were transgender.

Despite transgender and intersex people both being oppressed due to homophobia, in the same way that the rest of LGBTI is, it is foolish and dangerous to pretend that our biologies and medical needs are the same. They are not.

The ACOG paper makes reference to a report by the Institute of Health of the National Academies – The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.

The Institute’s paper recognizes that intersex and transgender are two very different things. We call on ACOG to do the same.