Jim Ambrose

Articles like this typically begin with the soul-baring personal story of someone born with intersex traits. The piece moves on to casual conflation of the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender,’ followed by a dubious quote from a careful surgeon, and then a selectively inaccurate representation of present-day intersex treatment protocols. This formula — paired with the inference that every intersex birth in the U.S. is met with a multidisciplinary team of fair-minded specialists — can lead a casual reader to believe children are no longer arbitrarily sterilized, mutilated, or deceived.

On May 14, 2013 Advocates for Informed Choice and Southern Poverty Law Center ran a press release announcing the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of a child who was harmed unthinkably, and beyond repair, by a group of adults employed by the state of South Carolina.