National
Organization For Women Conference 2002
In late June,
2002, Betsy Driver and Janet Green presented a
workshop at the NOW national conference held in St. Paul,
MN. They also were able to address the national board for a few
minutes to bring them up-to-date about all the exciting things that
have happened in the year since they adopted the ground-breaking
resolution condemning early genital surgery at the 2001 conference.
Every participant
who registered for the conference received a Bodies Like Ours handout
in their welcome packet. The handout discusses the prevelance of
gender variant births and encourages activists to learn more about
the issue by visiting the Bodies Like Ours website and the
website of ISNA.
At the well-attended
workshop, activists were given a quick introduction to the controversy
surrounding unconsensual genital surgeries and then possible action
items were discussed. The action items discussed included holding
informational workshops and adopting resolutions within their local
organizations and simply talking about the issue with other activists
to raise awareness. It is our belief that once people are aware
of the incidence of births that are not clearly male or female,
acceptance and change will soon follow.
NOW remains
a strong advocate for the elimination of non-consensual genital
surgeries on children. The national board and general membership
appear committed to enacting change on this important issue affecting
thousands of children world-wide.
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