Goodbye Intersex Society of North America, Hello Accord Alliance
For various reasons detailed in their open letter that can be found online here, the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) has decided to dissolve, with some of its leadership involved in supporting a new organization called Accord Alliance that will advocate for improved care of intersex individuals and recognition of important related issues related to rights, health care and more - though using the somewhat newer, somewhat more clinical (but perhaps more encompassing) term "disorders of sex development". The ISNA has long served as an important resource for education related to intersex issues. In teaching Human Sexuality classes at Indiana University, I turned several times to ISNA for updated information and resources related to intersex. They were also a place that many individuals dealing with personal intersex issues (e.g., those who were themselves intersex or whose friends, family members or partners were intersex) found comfort and reassurance and learned quite a lot. Their archives will be housed at The Kinsey Institute, which houses the collections of many prominent sex researchers, educators, therapists, authors and organizations. To learn more about these disorders of sex development, visit the Accord Alliance web site.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
This represents an absolute betrayal to those that have suported the ISNA over the years. The closure appears to have been made without consultation or notice to those that have suported this organisation over the years.
I was staggered to learn the founder Cheryl Chase is no more than a psudonym .
The worst of this is that ISNA and its new incarnation support a pathologising “disorder ” description for those of us who are different.
Weirdly the new term “disorders of sexual developement ” applies to some conditions such as Congenital adrenal hyperplasia where in the majority of cases there are no problems with sex or reproduction, and does the light tap dance of denial around XY carriers of this adrenal gland problem.
Others will take up the fight against discrimination against and medicalisation of , intersex lives, I am sure
September 21st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I am writing on behalf of the Organisation Intersex International to add a link to OII, the largest grassroots intersex organisation in the world. ISNA is now defunct.
Our link is
http://www.intersexualite.org
Kind regards,
Curtis E. Hinkle
Founder, Organisation Intersex International
http://www.intersexualite.org/