Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 07:39:47 +0000 From: Clare Howell Subject: IYF MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Clare Howell, (718) 638-7062 clare@gpac.org .HERMS TO PROTEST JOCELYN ELDERS AT UC-BERKELEY .CT TRANSEXUAL TEACHER FORCED TO RETIRE Contact: Cheryl Chase, cchase@isna.org HERMS TO PROTEST JOCELYN ELDERS AT UC-BERKELEY ============================================== [Berkeley, CA: 9 Mar 98] PROTESTING DR. JOCELYN Elders' support of Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM), the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) and Hermaphrodites With Attitude (HWA) will picket Elders' keynote address to a symposium for women leaders in university settings this Thursday (12 Mar 98) at the Clark Kerr Campus at UC-Berkeley. The demonstration is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Dr. Elders, a former U.S. Surgeon General, supports IGM, a cosmetic surgery performed on infants born with ambiguous genitals. In the vast majority of cases, the recipients of IGM are infants born with clitorises more than 3/8" long. Many medical specialists fear that these children, if not operated on, will grow up to be lesbians or masculine women who would have difficulty functioning as "normal, heterosexual adults." The resulting surgery leaves many intersex women with no clitoral sensation. Cheryl Chase, founder of ISNA, emphasized that the demo is not aimed at the symposium but at Dr. Elders' continued refusal to meet with the intersex community or survivors of IGM. Said Ms. Chase, "In spite of what even Urology Times called a 'new tidal wave of opinion' [among physicians who have begun to speak out against IGM], Elders remains committed to the idea that children born with large clitorises or small penises must be surgically 'fixed', and has ignored all attempts by ISNA to open a dialog." ### CT TRANSEXUAL TEACHER FORCED TO RETIRE ====================================== [Wallingford, CT: 4 Mar 98] TRANSEXUAL TEACHER Scott Hendricks has been forced to retire from his job as a teacher of agricultural mechanics at Lyman Hall High School because he will under- go a sex change. The New Haven Register reports that, in a raucous Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, board members approved Hendricks' retirement over strong objections by parents and students. Seventeen year-old Senior Daniel Welch called Hendricks "one of the best teachers I have ever known and certainly the best at Lyman Hall." He added, "The career I've chosen is to become an agricultural education teacher, and one of the reasons I'm doing this is because of the example of Scott Hendricks. I hope I can be half as good as he was." Said Welch's stepfather Tom D'Allesantro, "Believe me, I'm as conservative as they come and there's never been an issue in my head about the propriety of Scott's behavior." An unidentified parent told the board, "This is a very bad example you're setting and not what I want for my kid. I don't care what this guy does in his private life. He has a heart full of love for his students... Let's stop making Scott the scapegoat and our children the victims." Board members endured the angry protest in stony silence. Neither Hendricks nor board members would comment on the matter due to the terms of the retirement settlement. ### Subscriptions. Please send: subscribe iyf-online or: unscribe iyf-online to: MajorDomo@Apocalypse.org For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC website at: http://www.gpac.org (c) 1996 InYourFace Our on-line news-only service for gender activism. When reposting please credit InYourFace.