Hypospadias: Hypospadias is a congenital defect of the penis in which the urinary tract opening, or urethral meatus, is abnormally located away from the tip of the penis.
I'm just wondering if anyone in Congress, or the community, outside of the "groups" and the activists-who-speak-for-everyone, realizes that ENDA (the gay employment discrimination bill) supposedly covers this condition as well (it sounds like a horrible condition, don't get me wrong, but I'm just a bit surprised to find out that this child is covered under ENDA, a gay rights bill).
Here's a letter from a parent, recently posted on Salon.com in response to the ENDA debate:
as the father of a "severely" hypospadic boy (his pediatrician's characterization, not mine) on of the first things i was told was (1) his penis is going to me really small (2) he was probably going to be gay (3) he had to have surgery starting right away. A few years of frustrating research and half completed surgeries later i'm still confused and i want so much to be able to give my son the firmest foundation possible as he heads into high school and has to deal with the locker room (a decade yet away, but still).A reply to the letter, posted in Salon's comments:
yes in all the kerfuffle [over ENDA], neither "side" (and how bad is it when there are "sides") - has mentioned the Intersexed.Chordee: Chordee is a condition in which the penis curves downward (that is, in a ventral direction). The curvature is usually most obvious during erection, but resistance to straightening is often apparent in the flaccid state as well. In many cases but not all, chordee is associated with hypospadias.
My son is mildly Intersexed, not severe but moderate hypospadias. Really bad chordee too, so genital reconstruction was needed before his gender became apparent, to avoid pain. We hope we guessed right. We opted for the minimum needed, to allow him to decide on further surgery later.
A T-inclusive ENDA would prevent your child from being fired, or prevented from using either restroom at work because of his non-conforming genitalia. ADA doesn't cover everything.
Your child is no more likely to be Gay than any other kid, and only 10% of IS people have significant issues with gender. (2 separate issues there, one sexual orientation, the other gender).
How many members of Congress know that this is what they're supposedly voting for in a trans-inclusive ENDA? If the "GLBT community" now covers boys who are born with a messed up urethra and a penis that bends the wrong way, then I guess I really am behind the times.
