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Santa Cruz CA resident gets “intersex” birth certificate
Santa Cruz, CA resident gets a “intersex” birth certificate — first one ever  issued in the USA.
For the first time in the United States, New York City issued a birth certificate reading “intersex” in the gender field.
On December 15, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene corrected the original birth certificate of Sara Kelly Keenan, born in Brooklyn 55 years ago. She received it in the mail at her Santa Cruz, California, home on Tuesday.
“It was wonderful. It was the first time I saw ‘intersex’ in print related to my name,” said Keenan, an addiction life coach. “When I applied in court, I chose ‘non-binary,’ because that’s an umbrella term that would also include gender variant people.”
Sara Kelly Keenan says the correction is “realy validating.”
“A person may amend their birth certificate to have ‘intersex’ reflected on their birth certificate with appropriate documentary evidence from a US-licensed doctor,” said Julien A. Martinez, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “The department will continue to work with community partners as we adopt changes to more accurately reflect a person’s sex.”
Though Keenan had requested a term not strictly based on medical evidence, she found the city’s correction “really validating.”
Ultimately, the term “intersex” “carries more personal significance to me than ‘non-binary,’ ” she said.
Gender issues
“Intersex” is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person’s anatomy doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female or male.
Keenan thinks of her story as “typical” for an intersex child, yet in an essential way, it is different from most: She was given up for adoption as an infant.
She was born to an unwed mother in a Brooklyn hospital, where she stayed for three weeks until she was transferred to a nearby orphanage, the Angel Guardian Home. Next, she was placed in foster care for five months and then adopted by a couple on Long Island. To this day, Keenan is unsure whether she underwent genital surgery during her first three weeks of life, as was typical for intersex children at that time, according to the Intersex Society of North America.
“I don’t know enough about what happened to me as an infant, because the medical records were tied up in a sealed adoption, and then the medical records at the hospital were destroyed in a fire in the ’70s,” she said.
What she does know: “Gender issues came up almost immediately.” At 3 or 4 years old, she realized that she was a girl, but “that wasn’t what I felt like. … I wanted to be a boy,” said Keenan. “A mistake had happened.”
As she grew older, she refused to wear dresses, asked to join the Boy Scouts and dropped out of the Girl Scouts.
“I felt comfortable at times in groups of boys but knew I was different. And I felt comfortable even less of the time in groups of girls but knew I was different from them,” Keenan said. “I never felt I belonged or fit in anywhere — but I looked like a little girl.”
Still, by ninth grade, she wasn’t showing signs of puberty.
“My body really became different physically from everyone else,” said Keenan, who described herself at that stage as “a 6-foot-tall naked 8-year-old girl. That was a real problem in high school.”
“I really hated my body. I hated my life. I felt cursed, and I felt like there was no hope for me,” she said, and she began to cut herself. “If I had not been raised Catholic and believed that hell was waiting for me if I killed myself, I probably would have ended my life as a teenager.”
A month after turning 16, she underwent an operation to address the fact that she hadn’t entered puberty. Surgeons removed “what they said were ovaries that would never develop,” Keenan explained, though it was actually testicular tissue that had grown where ovaries are located in females.
After the surgery, she started female hormone replacement therapy.
“They said I was 100% girl and I just couldn’t make hormones, and that was the second lie of my life, and that lie stood for 30 more years, until I was 49 or 50 years old and used the Internet and a visit to an endocrinologist to confirm the truth,” Keenan said.
‘Pushed down the female track’
The original “lie” of an intersex birth had been perpetrated by the hospital and the adoption agency without her adoptive parents’ knowledge or consent. However, this second lie relied on their participation, observed Keenan. Trying to learn why she was not developing normally, they had taken their 16-year-old daughter to a succession of doctors, who ordered various tests.
The results showed Keenan to be genetically male with female genitalia and mixed internal reproductive anatomy.
Keenan’s mother, who died of lung cancer just three years after her daughter’s surgery, probably knew this, she said. After all, her mother had contacted her aunt, who arrived at her mother’s bedside “24 hours too late to have my mother tell her what my mother knew and what she wanted the aunt to do for me in my life.”
Her father definitely knew about Keenan’s gender circumstance. Five years ago, he admitted to her that he’d been given the option for surgeons to construct a penis followed by male hormones as a way to allow Keenan to masculinize.
“His words were ‘hell, no, that’s my daughter. She’s a girl,’ ” Keenan said. “So I was just pushed down the female track and given female replacement hormones.”
Self-defining words
” ‘Intersex’ is an identity. So there is no definition of ‘intersex.’ It will vary from one person to another,” said Dr. Eric Vilain, a professor of human genetics, pediatrics and urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He explained that some transgender people identify as “intersex,” even though they were not born with atypical genitalia.
“But a significant number of people born with ambiguous genitalia reject the ‘intersex’ identity. It is not a clinical term,” Vilain wrote in an email. Among doctors and clinicians, it is referred to as Disorders/Differences of Sex Development, or DSD.
“The definition of DSD is ‘congenital conditions in which development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical,’ ” said Vilain.
Keenan said the intersex community rejected the medical term, rebranding the condition as “differences of sexual development.”
“The idea being that our bodies don’t need to be altered, necessarily: Disorders need treatment; differences can be allowed to exist,” she said. “Differences can be tolerated, accepted and even celebrated.”
Keenan makes use of the many terms meant to define her.
“I use ‘intersex’ for present day, and I use ‘hermaphrodite’ when I’m talking about the ’60s and before, because that was the term when I was a baby,” she said. Using the different terms helps her give historical context for a time when “the protocol of the day was to lie to us.”
Years ago, it was accepted by the medical community that if you assign a child a gender — with surgery — and reinforce it, the child will assume that gender, Keenan said.
Looking back, she understands the decisions that were made for her as a baby.
“They had a baby they needed to get a home for, and in their minds, they needed to possibly perform surgery to do that. And that was the mission — get an unwanted baby a home — and they did what they needed to do that.”
Times have changed, and the medical community, when dealing with a baby born with atypical genitalia, does not always immediately “correct” a child’s anatomy.
“Intersex people are treated differently and better now because of societal advancement in thinking,” Keenan said. “We’re trying to stop the surgical intervention on infants so that their genitals are not changed before they reach an age where they express a desire to have surgery or express a gender preference.”
She also hopes all gender-variant people will be able to get birth certificates, licenses and other official documents aligned with their identity. They are “equally as valid in their beliefs,” even if science hasn’t caught up, she said.
“There was a time when science hadn’t caught up and understood my genetic reality,” she said.
Join the conversation
Would she have preferred being surgically steered toward a male identity instead of female?
Though she believes “that’s probably a truer physical identity for me,” she would have wanted to go that way only “if I could be that way 17 years old in 2017,” since 1977 was “a harsher, crueler world to be different in.”
Today, she says she leads a wonderful life with her partner of 30-plus years, David.
“We’re very happy, and we’re considering retirement and what comes next in the next 30 years of our life,” Keenan said. “But I’m not content, because infant genital surgeries are still happening in America.”
Santa Cruz, CA resident looks forward to retirement with the identity that best fits her.
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kill a bald eagle & fight global warming?
Bald eagles are a protected species. Killing them is a crime, and criminal prosecutions are not rare. But it’s a different story if you are a wind energy company. The Obama administration has just released a final rule that will allow 4,200 bald eagles to be killed by wind turbines a year without penalty:
Under the new rule, wind companies and other power providers will not face a penalty if they kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles, nearly four times the current limit.
That limit is annual.
Deaths of the more rare golden eagles would be allowed without penalty so long as companies minimize losses by taking steps such as retrofitting power poles to reduce the risk of electrocution.
How many eagles are currently being killed by wind turbines? The federal government won’t say.
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Firenze Sage: Â Too bad there isn’t an EPA official fired for every dead eagle.
New York Times: The home of fake news does it again
   
Sole Republican elector who plans to vote against Trump is a ‘9/11 faker’ whose claim to be a first responder at the Pentagon is FALSE
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Republican elector Chris Suprun, 42, Â was not a first responder during 9/11 attacks as he has previously claimed
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Suprun, a Dallas, Texas, resident, portrayed himself as a heroic firefighter in an editorial this month for The New York Times about not voting for Trump
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The 42-year-old claimed to be a first responder with the Manassas Park, Virginia, fire department
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The Manassas Park Fire Department didn’t respond to September 2001 attacks
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And what’s worse – Suprun wasn’t hired by the department until October 2001
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Suprun is the sole Republican to publicly announce his ballot would not be cast for the president-electÂ
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DailyMail.com has asked the New York Times if they fact-checked his claims  – the paper says it ‘fact checks’ all op-ed articlesÂ
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Frienze Sage: Â The times claims to have fact checked the article. Obvious lie as is the story. We want Hillary no matter what we have to do to get her.Â
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popular vote decide who is President? You say?
How did your Thanksgiving Diner conversations go? One  friend of many  years said,  Hilary should be President as she won the “popular vote”. Response:  Pass the potatoes ….
When will someone figure out how many illegal votes were cast? Â Â Â The Wall Street Journal weighs in saying lots of illegal votes were case.
America is a republic of states. Â America is not first and foremost a “democracy”. Â States created America. Â And the states decide via the electoral college who will be President.
And for those who disagree: Â Change the US Constitution. Â And until it is changed — obey the law. Â Make sense?
Now for the current  re-counts:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/12/hillarys-recount-nearly-dead-in-michigan.php
http://www.wnd.com/2016/12/hillary-has-secret-reason-for-backing-vote-recount/
So what did you hear around your Thanksgiving diner table? Â Anything interesting? Â Share!
Take back California’s water from Boxer? Quick!
Everyone in California  — including Barbara Boxer —  knows we have water problems.  And most individuals  conserve water.
And then we look at what  politicians  such as Boxer do — and don’t do.
Boxer lives in San Francisco and represents California. Surely she could be in contact with whatever is necessary to figure out how to save water when the big storms hit?
Why is government so clueless when it comes to real issues?
One might think so. Â Guess again.
One would think that these politicos — such as Barbara Boxer — could  figure out how to save water?
When we have heavy storms why does all the surface water continue to drain into San Francisco Bay due to lack of  surface storage in the Sierras and pumping restrictions to protect the smelt?
Ok, we Californians  love to eat fish. And yes we love our salmon and maybe we love  our smelt.
But our farmers are hurting. Â And Barbara Boxer — as usual — has only herself to consider.
Only 852,000 of the 5.5 million  acre-feet of water — only  10 percent — during the first two months of this year was sent to southern California.  Why so little water sent south?   Bureaucrats who operate the pumps keep the water from flowing south to the farmers.
And guess who is sinking a modest water bill that could provide relief to CA farmers? Â Barbara Boxer.
Let her know what you think: Â save the farmers or save the smelt? Â You choose.
Trump keeps promises to Deplorables? Yes!
Were you one of Hilary’s Deplorables who voted for Trump? Â Guess what: Â Trump is picking key players who have your interests at heart.
Strategy: Â Trump listens to Obama and then picks who he wants. Â A brilliant strategy. Â Listen to who was in power and then do something else.
Very important:  When foreign dangers threaten, the generals will be awake.  Remember how Secretary of State Hilary Clinton responded to Bengazi?  Who knows who did what that night. In contrast,  Trump’s picks include  several command generals to fill key cabinet positions related to security.
Does Trump keep promises to Hilary’s ‘Deplorables’?
Were going to get regulations off the backs of people. Â That was something Trump talked a lot about. Â Trump’s key appointment for the top post at Enviornmental Protection Agency will bring law back to a lawless agency.
The jobs Trump has filled: Defense (Mattis), Treasury (Steve Mnuchin), Transportation (Elaine Chao), Health and Human Services (Tom Price), Commerce (Wilbur Ross), Education (Betsy DeVos), United Nations ambassador (Nikki Haley), Housing and Urban Development (Ben Carson), Central Intelligence Agency (Mike Pompeo) and attorney general (Jeff Sessions).
So far, Deplorables, President-Elect Trump’s picks have your interests at heart: Â safety of the USA, get regulations under control, create jobs for Americans.
Ohio State jehad attacks: head scarfs in solidarity says CNN
   
In response to the Ohio State jehad killings, CNN Camrota  wants non-Muslim women to wear head scarfs  in solidarity with Muslim women.  Really?  Why the Burka and head scarfs  according to Muhammand?
“O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks all over their bodies that they may thus be distinguished and not molested,†Allah tells Mohammed.
The context of Koran chapter 33 verse 59 is even grimmer if you put it in the context of verse 50 which allowed Mohammed’s army to enslave and rape captured women and the use of the Burka to distinguish between wives and slaves.
But CNN’s Alyssa Camrota followed the usual habit of buying into Muslim fantasies of victimhood by suggesting that non-Muslim women adopt this degrading symbol of rape and subjugation.
“Maybe there will be a movement where people wear the head scarf in solidarity. You know, even if you’re not Muslim,†Camerota said during an early-morning broadcast on CNN’s “New Day.â€
“Maybe it’s the way people shave their heads, you know, sometimes in solidarity with somebody who is going through something,†she added.
Camerota was responding to a CNN segment about Muslim women who say they live in fear of being verbally or physically attacked for wearing head scarves.
It’s time for Camerota to read books as to how Islam badly harms women. Try A God Who Hates.
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Firenze Sage:  This comes after the Ohio State attack which has nothing to do with women’s apparel and much to do with the religion of peace.Â
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Per Castro: you are free to mourn for 9 booze free days or be shot
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The nine-day mandatory mourning period continued in Cuba on Tuesday, the designated day for foreign leaders to speak of the legacy of dictator Fidel Castro. Castro’s brother, dictator Raúl, announced the 90-year-old’s death on Friday.
Cuba has imposed a mourning period on its people, though Fidel Castro’s death was widely celebrated by Cubans throughout the world. The government has banned the sales of alcohol to prevent celebrations, as well as prohibited any loud “public activities,†playing of music, or excessive laughter. News anchors have been ordered not to utter the words “good morning,†“good afternoon,†or “good evening†after a communist singer-songwriter took offense at describing any day without Fidel Castro in it as “good.â€
Fidel Castro’s ashes will end their tour of the nation in eastern Santiago, where he was born. Before that voyage across the island, however, the government paraded his ashes through the streets of Havana, displayed to throngs of Cubans forced to attend the ceremonial march. The Cuban state propaganda outlet Granma had announced th
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Firenze Sage:  No buenos dias here. Or Booze or music or freedom. But the diplomats will meet for a Champagne  lunch at the seaside.
insiders too often make – but not follow – the rules?
Tired of ‘insiders’ running America? Lots of  voters chose  Trump because he was an ‘outsider’ who might shake things up.
The ‘insiders’ did not follow the rules for upcoming vestry elections of St. John’s, an episcopal church in Aptos, CA.
Pay to pray —  if you want to be on the Vestry says one episcopal  church  having just a few days ago accepted proposed revisions to their Bylaws.  [St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Aptos, CA]
Looks like  another instance of the’insiders’ doing what they want — and not following the ‘rules’ laid out for others.
These Bylaws still have to be approved as legal by the Chancellor for the Diocese  of El Camino Real. Â
The Chancellor  for the diocese is Nancy Mahomey Cohen.
Will  the Chancellor for the diocese agree that these proposed  revisions to the Bylaws for St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in Aptos are indeed “legal”?
Will legal advise from the diocese agree that it’s  OK to require that potential Vestry members must make a Pledge of identifiable money during the preceding 6 months  to the Corporation  to be on the Vestry?
Her email: Â ncohen@family.stanford.edu
Here’s what happened:Â
At an episcopal church level it’s possible to self-nominate or nominate someone else to sit on the church board.
The rules to follow sent by email  on Sept. 29, 2016.
One long time  member followed the rules and submitted a petition to place  another member  on the list  for nominees.  The applicant  ‘an outsider’  strictly  in the sense that  the applicant  was  not nominated by the ‘insiders’ on the  Nomination Committee.
The Clerk appropriately followed the rules, kept the name secret,  and on the correct date  turned over the name of the applicant to the Nominating Committee.
Here’s where the  ‘insiders’  did not follow the rules.  The applicant only had to meet two requirements:  be over the age of 14 and be listed on the Parish Registrar.  The applicant met both conditions.
After receiving the name, the Nominating Committee should have put that name ‘in the basket’. Â That’s it. Â Job done. Instead, the Nominating Committee (no Chair) decided to turn it over to the interim priest and senior warden.
At the  most recent Vestry meeting  the interim priest said that he was asked by the Nominating Committee to ask the applicant two questions ….. Â
The Nominating Commitee  — the Vestry — stopped doing its job and turned it over to the interim priest and one warden.  Opps! The insiders did not follow the rules laid on in the Sept. 29 email
Per review of the Bylaws, the Vestry shall nominate a Chair of the Nominating Committee.  When asked,  Junior Warden Andy Pudan  stated that there was no Chair. Andy P. stated that he, Diane Scofield and Vicky Wilson  were on the Nominating Committee.   That meets the Bylaw rules that 3 members from the Vestry be on the Nominating Committee.  [The Bylaws also allow 2 other menbers.]  Another Vestry member Jon Showwalter  (not on the Nominating Committee)  said to the Clerk  that Charles Greenleaf  was an  ‘adviser’  to the Committee.
The most recent Vestry meeting was called to discuss and accept proposed  changes to the Bylaws.  Charles  Greenleaf, who was present as Guest for the preceding two Vestry meetings, was not present at the November 2016 meeting.
TakeAway from the November, 2016 Â Vestry meeting: Â A Pledge to the church is a requirement if you want to be on the church board.
Maybe someone will review these Bylaws and say No!
written by Cameron Jackson  drcameronJackson@gmail.com