Dear Stephen Whittle,
Sophia Siedlberg and I are writing to you on behalf of the Organisation Intersex International about a very disturbing problem associated with WPATH and what appears its total lack of intersex input and representation. We in OII have worked very diligently to prove that we are allies with your membership. We therefore are concerned that we have been ignored and perhaps even intentionally harmed by WPATH.
There is a committee in WPATH with the following name:
WPATH Committee on Disorders of Sex Development
One of the members of this committee is Ken Zucker, Ph.D. (Canada).
This is offensive to the membership of OII which is the largest intersex organisation in the world and also a Canadian organisation. We are very concerned that Ken Zucker is the Canadian representative on a committee devoted to intersex issues using the extremely stigmatizing term "disorders of sex development". It is important to point out that more and more Canadians, many of whom are in close contact with OII, find that Ken Zucker is an embarrassment to Canadians and many are very upset about abuse of gender variant children being subsidized by publicly funded dollars.
Also, there is no intersex membership on this committee. There was absolutely no discussion with intersex people that we are aware of about forming this committee and we would like to know why this committee is even
a part of WPATH.
If you watch the following video, you will see why many intersex people are not interested in having Zucker be part of a committee devoted to these issues.
We are also concerned about the conflation of the DSD terminology in a mental health setting and do not have time to share all those concerns with you in this communication. However, you can find information on OII's website at the following link:
Does WPATH approve of referring to people with intersex variations as having a "disorder of sex development"? Does WPATH approve of Ken Zucker's membership on this committee despite that fact that we in the intersex community are not aware of any attempt on his part to inform himself of what the majority of intersex activists feel about these issues?
I would like to know if this is the image that WPATH wishes to give to the world and I would like to know what the
overall membership feels about stigmatizing intersex people and putting Zucker on this committee. Would you please let the Organisation Intersex International know how the membership feels about treating intersex people and our issues in this manner?
We hope that this matter can be resolved in a manner that does not cause serious damage to the intersex
community and all the intense work we have done to be inclusive of trans issues.
We urge all people worldwide who are concerned about the CAMH to sign the following petition.
Kind Regards,
Sophia Siedlberg, OII-UK
Curtis E. Hinkle
Fondateur, Organisation Internationale des Intersexes
Founder, Organisation Intersex International
ADDENDUM:
Please read the following information from Intersex Initiative which also expresses these same concerns.
Follow up:
OII has yet (31 July 2008) to receive any serious response from Stephen Whittle concerning the specific issues raised in this letter, nor the serious allegations and other ethical issues concerning Zucker that the president of OII shared with many members of WPATH who were members of the Gender ID Coalition which Stephen Whittle was also a member of.
The following information was shared:
Please note:
OII did eventually receive an email from Stephen Whittle which appeared initially to answer some of the questions raised by members of OII. And it also appeared that Stephen Whittle was being polite and reasonable. However, later on Stephen Whittle said in his blog that he was both angry and felt the discussion with OII was very hostile. For us the problem appears to be the inconsistency with which Stephen conducted himself in this debate, being civil with us at first, but later taking a very unpleasant stance in his blog and in emails to various individuals who challenged him on some points. We are concerned because OII and intersex activists feel they are being attacked by Stephen Whittle for asking these questions about Zucker. The president of OII has decided not to communicate any further with Stephen Whittle.
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Open letter to members of WPATH about Whittle’s attacks on the intersex community
I have found that not confronting bullies who attack other people unjustly and inaccurately is not healthy and constructive, especially when the person is head of an organization which is speaking both on intersex and trans issues.
On Whittle's blog:
1) He has used OII's logo without our permission or even asking.
2) He has described me as having gone mad. He has no proof of this. All my correspondence with him has been cordial and factual. This is outrageous for the head of an organisation which speaks on both intersex issues and trans issues.
3) He has humiliated me in front of the board of OII by writing to almost all the board members and caused great damage to our organisation as a result. I simply asked a very important question about why Zucker was on the DSD committee and why the name of the committee was DSD committee when there is almost NO support for this terminology and most intersex people consider it offensive. That is a reasonable question from an intersex organization which is truly international and the largest intersex organization in the world.
4) He wrote an e-mail to Zucker himself soon after receiving my open letter and in that e-mail he stated that they could shut up these outside people and organizations. Well, it is clear to me that he must have been talking about OII because he started his blog to misrepresent OII and it does not take a lot of logic to figure out the outside organization he is trying to shut up.
From: Stephen Whittle <S.T.Whittle@MMU.AC.UK>
Date: May 29, 2008 5:52:50 AM EDT
To: WPATH-MEMBERSHIP@LISTS.UMN.EDU
Subject: Re: [WPATH-MEMBERSHIP] Open response to Alice Dreger
Reply-To: Stephen Whittle <S.T.Whittle@MMU.AC.UK>
Hi Ken
thank you for this very thoughtful response to Dana - I wonder whether you might want to say this more widely. I (both personally and in my role as President of WPATH) am being currently overwhelmed by a huge number of outside people and organisations, as you can imagine, to produce some response to the latest debacle re. the DSM V. Currently all of these enquiries are being fielded with 'this is a complex question - I'll get back to you some time in the distant future'. It's not doing my reputation, or WPATH's much good.
I cannot help but feel that with some judicious editing and a little more background, this could really shut some people up and show the extent of some of their specious claims. That does not mean to say that I do not recognise some of their concerns, and would like to see a public summary of your clinical follow up studies. Not many outsiders have access to the ASB - they are one of the more expensive and more difficult journals to access, so instead people rely on what they think you have said. I have often wanted to send out copies of your papers, but of course, the ASB's copyrights prevent it.
However, I think your response below has the beginnings of a much more serious statement that we could all benefit from. I also believe it might become something WPATH might be able to support and promulgate (subject to the board, of course).
all the best
Stephen
Professor Stephen Whittle, OBE, PhD, MA, LLB, BA
Professor of Equalities Law
Manchester Metropolitan University
All Saints West
Lower Ormond Street
Manchester, M15 6HB
-------------------------
Vice President , Press for Change
www.pfc.org/uk
President, World Professional Association for Transgender
Health
www.wpath.org
Executive Chair, Transgender Europe, www.tgeu.org
5) If you want a sample of the type of e-mails that he sends to people, just read this:
Letter from Whittle to Andrea Brown, someone who is not a member of OII, who tried to get both sides of this story
From: Stephen Whittle
Date: 2008/7/30
Subject: Re: Whittle and OII arguement: Now we have both sides of the
arguement, eventually. You can make up your own minds, who is telling
the truth.
To: Andrea Brown
Andrea (or whoever you are)
I knew an Andrea Brown in the early days of Press for Change, she was out, an activist and a kind, sensible, realistic young woman. I presume you are not her. But, to the point, my side of the argument was presented to OII at the end of June, within 3 weeks of reading their mail.
What is there not to believe in my reply - it is a simple outline of facts.
You really are becoming a disgraceful pariah, feeding off other people's miseries, and ultimately causing harm to those you profess to support. And you are vicious to boot.
This is not a threat , this is a promise: if you once again repeat, in any forum, yours', Sophia Seidlberg's or OII's defamatory lies and allegations, or anything else that is untrue or defamatory about me, I will sue you for defamation, even if I have to hunt you down to the ends of the earth. And I promise that - speak the truth and you have nothing to fear, continue these lies and I will use the law to obtain what is right and truthful.
Stephen
I would suggest you crawl back into your closet (from where you have never actually left), behind your wall of secrecy, and leave alone the rest of us who want to change the world for the better.
Stephen
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I think that members of WPATH need to confront Whittle about this. This is very unbecoming and I do not understand how members can accept such outrageous behavior without lodging a complaint. I do not merit this type of treatment and I resent this very much. I am not a member of WPATH and certainly would never consider becoming one after this type of treatment.
Kind regards,
Curtis E. Hinkle
Founder, OII
http://www.intersexualite.org/
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Open Letter to President of WPATH from OII - (Sent 28 May 2008)
Open letter to members of WPATH about Whittle’s attacks on the intersex community: Click here
