An open letter to Iain Morland
by Curtis E. Hinkle
29 January 2009
In response to his blog about Sophia Siedlberg's essay.
I wrote to Iain Morland about the genital cutting conference in July 2008 and received only a dismissive reply about why nothing was done to accommodate OII’s member Michelle O’Brien at the conference. What then happened was quite unfortunate. I provided EVIDENCE to support my opinion that there were some serious issues surrounding this conference by inviting someone like Bo Laurent to speak on genital cutting without having invited anyone to speak who had other perspectives.
- I published evidence from primary sources that proved that the Accord Alliance was in fact SUPPORTING genital cutting. The Chicago Consensus organizers had very quickly written a consensus on CAH (which was published almost without any publicity, as opposed to the original Chicago Consensus Statement) and in that consensus statement there were recommendations for surgical intervention before six months of age. That is the consensus that is being supported by the Accord Alliance. I quoted from the document itself. I showed by using the text from Accord Alliance's website that it was supporting the Consensus documents. This is EVIDENCE. Instead of dealing with evidence and real documentation, Iain simply dismissed everything I wrote as if it had no relevance to the conference. So, who is dismissing EVIDENCE?
- During the conference, the website of Accord Alliance went down so that no one could actually verify the primary source material that I had given in the essay. The website did not go back up until the conference was over.
- I published documentation which showed that ISNA had been incorporated by Dr. Dreger's husband (a pediatrician) and Chase's partner who is an insurance specialist along with Bo Laurent and Cheryl Chase, who were one and the same person.
- I published EVIDENCE of contradictory narratives published by Bo Laurent, aka Cheryl Chase, and I also published EVIDENCE of what appears to many to be academic fraud on the part of Bo Laurent, such as giving footnotes to herself under another name in publications, and writing articles in which she speaks about herself in the third person under another name, etc.
- Then I was accused of slander by someone who was at this conference but who obviously had not taken the time to read the documentation.
My suggestion to people who demand evidence is that they deal with the evidence. I have done that and have moved on. It is NOT scientific to attack the person who simply publishes the evidence and that is what happened.
I have not written about any of this for quite a while. I don't think there is much more that needs to be said quite frankly. Anyone who wants evidence can find out what happened with the DSD controversy, the Chicago Consensus and other issues surrounding ISNA. There is no need to continue unless there is new evidence.
I am very much open to constructive dialog with anyone and that is why I have not written anything negative about Katrina Karkazis. I do believe in EVIDENCE. I do believe in allowing others to speak. I read her book Fixing Sex and thought that it was a good book. The fact that she founded the Accord Alliance is not going to make me ignore the EVIDENCE. I don't agree with the principles of the organization she founded. However, she has been honest and in my opinion, she is a real scholar who is willing to deal with EVIDENCE. That is refreshing. I respect her right to start any organization she wishes. I may disagree but I recognize that what she is doing is well researched and informative about the actual experiences of intersex people. That encourages me.
I am waiting for Iain Morland to deal with the evidence. He continually keeps organizing conferences which are set up as if intersex activism were where it was 15 years ago. It has changed. Inviting DSD activists and people from organizations which are advocating surgery and being funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield (Accord Alliance) to a conference on genital cutting is not just ironic, it is intellectually dishonest to do this if you have been presented with the EVIDENCE and instead of discussing the evidence with me, I was simply dismissed as irrelevant. I don't take that personally. I am convinced that OII is allowing intersex people to speak. I am very proud of that and I am very patient.
OII is not about me. It is about all of us. It is about our own individual experiences and our collective spirit of reconciliation and hope. I remain very hopeful and know that OII has so many good people from so many places that there will never be any way to continue all this denial of the EVIDENCE as the years go on.
Things are working themselves out and I feel very good about that.
Curtis E. Hinkle
Founder, OII
Documentation:
