Pay attention to the comments from the state official. Below the article is the letter I wrote in response.

URL: http://www.heraldonline.com/local/s...p-2761150c.html

Astonished hunter shoots doe in buck's clothing

Published: Wednesday, November, 12th, 2003

By The Herald (Rock Hill, SC)

FORT MILL -- Sometimes horns don't mean you bagged a buck.

Greg Helms shot a deer Friday, a 165-pound beauty with a 12-point rack almost a foot and a half across.


But, well, the buck lacked manhood.


Helms took the deer to Trail's End Taxidermy in Indian Land, and the skinner turned white as a sheet.


'We checked, and there wasn't what you expect on a buck,' said Trails End's Melissa Phillips. 'Outside it was a doe. Except the rack, of course.'


The deer is a rarity, one out of every 50,000 or so, said Charles Ruth, deer project manager for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Probably not a hermaphrodite -- parts of two sexes at once -- but a doe with too much testosterone, Ruth said.


'Just like the bearded lady,' Ruth said. 'A freak of nature.'


Phillips makes a living turning deer into trophies, but she's never seen anything like this. 'There must have been some male hormones running in there,' Phillips said.


'All I know is he was a she,' Helms said.


'The rack is gorgeous,' said Helms' partner Julie McCoy. 'We thought that, maybe, you know, his maleness was inside. But it wasn't.'


Helms is no hunting novice. He bagged a white deer, another rarity, a couple of years ago, and has hunted almost all his life. He got this deer on family property not far from the entrance to Tega Cay.


'I can say now I have probably seen it all,' Helms said.


'Maybe it's being close to the nuclear station,' joked McCoy.


Trail's End is going to make a trophy rack out of this deer, one Helms is either going to call Boe or Bucky. Ruth even said the meat is fine for eating -- but Helms hasn't touched it.


'I'm afraid, to be honest,' Helms said. 'Something might happen to me, if you get my drift.'


--

This article is protected by copyright and may not be printed or distributed for anything except personal use.

_____

Dear Mr. Ruth,

It was with a sense of amazement that I read your comments regarding the intersex deer taken in Fort Mill and published in The Herald on November 12, 2003 http://www.heraldonline.com/local/s...-2761150c.html. Should you need a reminder, you compared this intersex deer to "...a bearded lady" and "A freak of nature". As an advocate working to erase shame and secrecy for intersex people throughout the world, I am disappointed to read such bigoted and oppressive comments from a South Carolina state official.

Approximately 1 out of 2000 babies in this country are born with an intersex condition. Intersex is simply a variation of the sexual or reproductive system that differ from medically defined standard male or female. We are not freaks of nature, nor could you accurately describe us as 'bearded ladies'. Rather, our issues are very real, and mostly are the result of misguided notions such as yours about who we are. Based upon the latest census figures for South Carolina, your mischaractization of intersex people as freaks of nature impacted approximately 2000 people in your fine state.

I hope you will take a few minutes to learn about intersexuality and learn that we are not freaks of nature. Rather, we are tax-payers, voters, wives, husbands, sons, and daughters who are valuable members of your community. You can learn more by visiting the website of our organization at http://www.bodieslikeours.org, and the websites of my fellow advocates at http://www.isna.org and http://www.ipdx.org.

Mr. Ruth, I would urge you to retract your comment with a public apology at your earliest convenience.


Betsy Driver
Executive Director
Bodies Like Ours
http://www.bodieslikeours.org
PO Box 416
Oldwick, NJ 08858
908-832-9121 voice
908-832-6977 fax

Bodies Like Ours is a 501(c)(3)organization incorporated in and based in Hunterdon County, NJ. Bodies Like Ours provides peer support for people born with atypical genitalia and helps them erase their shame and secrecy.

Cc: The Herald, SC Governors Office, SC Developmental Disabilities Council, Free-Times (Columbia), The State, The Loop (Charleston), 365Gay.com, Q-Notes Online;

__________________
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

I'm happy to say I received a very nice letter of apology from the state official who made the comments in the above article.

Betsy

__________________
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

Thank you Betsy, for your nice letter on our behalf! Glad you got a positive reply.

__________________
Cheers,
Meresa

There will be no second-class citizens in this society.
-- Chuck Panozzo

yeeeeaaaaaaaaa!!!!! betsy!!!

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mutation is THE key to evolution {{{{xxxy}}}}undefined

They can get rall ugly dowe south. SOme relly un educated folks.

Ride um-- cow girl Besty:D

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You really have to love yourself, to get anything done in this world!

Julanne

I'm glad you got a positive responce to your letter.

I'm a little bothered about what the hunter said...about being afraid to eat the meat. 'I'm afraid, to be honest,' Helms said. 'Something might happen to me, if you get my drift.'
Is this idiot afraid he might catch IS? LOL

Well, it goes to show you...ignorance is still quite fashionable in some areas. :(

Andi

__________________
No good deed ever goes unpunished

Betsy, would you be able to post his letter here?

thanks!

__________________
Cheers,
Meresa

There will be no second-class citizens in this society.
-- Chuck Panozzo

Ms. Driver:

I apologize if I personally offended you or anyone else that suffers from intersex disorder.

Please understand that I spoke with the hunter that harvested this deer last week and assured him that, although not common, antlered female deer do occur and other than having antlers that result from higher than normal testosterone levels, the deer are normal. They can breed and successfully raise fawns etc. and there should be nothing wrong with the venison.

Tuesday I received several calls from the media including the Herald and a television station out of Charlotte. This in itself is ridiculous to me since this is not news, in my opinion.

To set the record straight, I spent a good deal of time in each of the interviews (particularly the one with the Herald) to fully address the possible causes of the abnormality from a biological standpoint. This included information on the following topics; the deer was a male with testicles that still resided in the abdomen, the deer was hermaphroditic (intersex), and the deer was simply a female with antlers as mentioned above.

In each interview I was told that it had been confirmed (by the taxidermist) that the deer was indeed female and simply had a set of antlers, i.e. the deer was not intersex with respect to the genitalia . That being the case, I described the situation as resulting from higher than normal testosterone levels and that the deer was otherwise normal, fit for human consumption, etc.

Following the comment that I made on the probability of this happening being about one in 50,000, I did make the comment to the reporter that it could be likened to the bearded lady (increased testosterone in both cases, however no implication on my part that there were any other physiological abnormalities). This was only to describe the rarity of this situation in deer to something rare from a human standpoint and both cases being caused by the same thing-increased testosterone. Perhaps I should have likened it to the same probability as the deer getting hit by lightning, but I did not do that (the cause and effect link would have been lost).

Although I may have responded affirmatively to the reporters comment "a freak of nature", I do not believe that I made that comment, therefore, there may have been some liberties taken with respect to the quote (I do 50-75 media interviews a year and this is typical, they seldom get it right). I did say, just like humans, deer can have any number of physiologic abnormalities, but it is still a doe deer and normal otherwise.

Aside from the media tying to make news not report news, I guess the biggest problem I see with the news piece is that I spent quite a bit of time discussing the situation from a biological standpoint and you see what I got credited for.

Again, I am sorry if the way this was presented offended you or anyone else.



Charles Ruth
Wildlife Biologist
Deer Project Supervisor
SCDNR
P. O. Box 167
Columbia, SC 29202-0167

__________________
Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is. --Margaret Mitchell

Thanks Besty, you're the best! :)

__________________
Cheers,
Meresa

There will be no second-class citizens in this society.
-- Chuck Panozzo