Man Born Intersex Wishes Irreversible Surgery Hadn't Been Performed At Birth
(CBS) -- We've been telling you about families whose children were diagnosed as intersex not clearly male or female. WBBM's Steve Miller spoke with adults who underwent surgery as newborns and have faced a lifetime of grief.
He was born in 1966 and grew up in a small Indiana town of about 800. His name is Alex McCorry.
"I was born with what they call ambiguous genitalia, and basically they cut my penis off."
It's a decision his parents made soon after he was born. To this day, Alex says he can't talk to his mother about it.
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"Especially back then, people didn't question doctors. They said, 'We need to do this,' and that's what was done... so I don't blame her for any decision that was made. I blame the doctors."
Alex says he was born with a small penis and a vagina.
Alex's name, back then, was Julie.
"For some god-forsaken reason, my mother decided I needed to start carrying a purse so I would be more girlie. So here I am in the early '70s in my jeans and T-shirt, carrying a purse. And I got beat up because people thought I was a boy carrying a purse."
After Alex started living as a man, something basic changed.
"As a young adult, I identified as a lesbian. And that changed after I transitioned and I really can't explain that."
Now Alex identifies as a gay man.
"A few people run. Most are really OK with it...
"The surgery - not only did they cut off a part of me that I wanted, it left me with no feeling there. And that's been really hard to cope with... I feel like if I can stop one parent from having the surgery done to their children - or their child - then it's worth it for me to speak out."
This is the fourth part of a five part series. For part one, click here. For part two, click here. For part three, click here
Lurie Children's Hospital is one of the medical centers in the Chicago area that treats patients with a variety of disorders of sexual development.
The DSD clinic estimates that 1 in every 4,500 children has a disorder of sexual development, although other estimates range from 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 5,000.
Lurie's DSD clinic currently treats 72 patients.
For more information on Lurie's DSD Clinic, click here.
Parents we spoke with for this series recommended the website www.dsdfamilies.org.
