Would the real Cheryl Chase please stand up?

Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:43 am by Curtis

Would the real Cheryl Chase, Bo Laurent, Charlie Chase, Brian Sullivan, Bonnie Sullivan please stand up?

OII has recently learned that Bo Laurent, who used the pen name Cheryl Chase, is now helping start another organization:

Accord Alliance

http://www.accordalliance.org/index.html

For information on Bo Laurent:

Bo Laurent (using the pen-name Cheryl Chase) founded Intersex Society of North America in 1993. Her presentation "Sexual Ambiguity: The Patient-Centered Approach" at the 2000 meeting of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society is considered an unprecedented patient-led breakthrough in medical reform. Bo was one of two adults with DSDs who participated in creating the 2006 "Consensus Statement on Intersex Disorders." Her long campaign to reform medical care for DSDs was recently profiled in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Bo will complete an M.A. in Organization Development in May 2008. Her culminating paper will be based on qualitative research on healthcare team functioning.

Source: http://www.accordalliance.org/our-people.html

At the end of one of Bo Laurent's articles, one reads:

"Bo Laurent, a doctoral student at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, is a consultant to the Intersex Society of North America."

Source: http://www.ahpweb.org/pub/perspective/intersex.html

OII contacted Bo Laurent's colleagues when he was a doctoral student at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. We use the pronoun "he" because that is the pronoun that the colleagues used in speaking about Bo Laurent. We have no explanation for this nor do we feel any explanation is needed.

We in OII are left wondering which of the following "Cheryl Chase's" is the same person as Bo Laurent. Or are none of the following Cheryl Chase's Bo Laurent? Frankly, it doesn't matter any more. Cheryl Chase is now Bo Laurent.

Various reports concerning Cheryl Chase's intersex variation have been published.

a) In this report, Cheryl Chase had her gonads removed and is infertile

"In 1993, an intersexed activist named Cheryl Chase began a support and advocacy group for intersexed adults called the Intersex Society of
North America ("ISNA"). Chase was born with a large clitoris, which was removed when she was an infant. When she was eight years old, her internal gonads were removed without her knowledge or consent. Because of the surgery, she is no longer capable of having her own children or obtaining orgasm. Today, Chase and other advocates are vocal about their hope for a moratorium
on the invasive treatment of intersexed children."

WHO WILL MAKE ROOM FOR THE INTERSEXED? By Kate Haas
Copyright (c) 2004 by American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics Boston University School of Law; Kate Haas
http://www.cirp.org/library/legal/USA/haas1/

b) In this report, Cheryl Chase is a true hermaphrodite and only the testicular tissue is removed and she is fertile.

"If Cheryl Chase has her way, Carl will no longer be expected to thank anyone. Born a "true hermaphrodite" (see accompanying story, "The Science of Intersexuality") and labeled a boy at birth, Chase was reassigned female 18 months later. At that time, surgeons performed a complete clitorectomy, removing her entire phallus, which they reinterpreted as a large clitoris, and destroying her potential for sexual pleasure later in life. At age 8, the testicular portions of her gonads were removed, and Chase eventually began menstruating. Doctors considered her lucky: Chase, unlike many intersexed people, was fertile."

http://tinyurl.com/2n8wbf
http://www.alternet.org/story/10672/

See also:
The True Story of John/Joan, By John Colapinto
The Rolling Stone, December 11, 1997. Pages 54-97
http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/905

c) In this report, Cheryl had ovaries and that was the reason she was assigned female because this was discovered in her early infancy.

"In 1956, and after three days of debate, Cheryl Chase's parents named their newborn Charlie. But at eighteen months, doctors discovered that
in addition to what they thought was a small penis with an opening along the bottom, Charlie had a uterus and ovaries. In part because the ovaries were functional, and thus potentially able to produce children, the doctors decided to make Charlie into Cheryl. As part of the procedure, they removed her entire clitoris, leaving her without orgasmic response."

Born Between Two Sexes from Girlfriends Magazine
http://www.bodieslikeours.org/pdf/gfriends.pdf

d) In this most recent account, Cheryl Chase has XX-male syndrome and had ovaries, thus not a "true hermaphrodite" which would have both ovarian
and testicular tissue as that term was defined medically.

"Chase was born Brian Sullivan in New Jersey with XX male syndrome, and her genitalia baffled doctors. After the discovery of ovaries and a uterus, a sex change operation was performed when she was aged 17 months, removing her clitoris/penis and opening a vagina."

http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Cheryl_Chase_(activist)

The Accord Alliance promotes the Consensus Statement on Management of Intersex Disorders and that seems to be the primary reason for the new
organization's existence. This is something that ISNA could not do because the Consensus Statement PROMOTES non-consensual surgery. Also, it is opposed to using the term "intersex" and ISNA has the term "intersex" in the name of its organization.

ISNA based all of its activism on a very narrow (very narrow indeed) goal – ending FEMINIZATION surgeries. Now, Bo Laurent (who was the real
person we thought Cheryl Chase was) is organizing a new organization with a generous grant of over $300,000 to support the new Consensus Statement which recommends surgeries at 2 to 6 months.

Would the real Charlie Chase, Cheryl Chase, Brian Sullivan, Bonnie Sullivan, Bo Laurent please stand up?

Comments: 0

November 2008