Build your own FREE website at

Angelfire.com Share: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Twitter | facebook

BORN TRUE HERMAPHRODITE - Pictorial Profile

Lynn Edward Harris, born Lynn Elizabeth Harris, 09/13/50 at 6:12 p.m. P.D.T.
in the city of Orange, California, USA, south of the Los Angeles County line.
On November 8th, 1973 at age 23 Harris was clinically diagnosed by a team
of specialists as possessing a rare, complex, congenital condition known as
"True Hermaphroditism" [Intersex] with undescended, sub-sized ovotestes i.e.
"gonadal mosaicism" found in approximately 1-in-25,000 births. [Statistic
source: New England Journal of Medicine, 01/14/98.]
Due to ambiguously-formed genitalia at birth [stunted penis; divided scrotum;
and vagina], Harris, (mal)assigned "female" by both parents and pediatrician,
was raised as such and continued living in said social gender role until age 29
(1979) --- six years after the disclosure of this fixed, irreversible, yet-evolving
biological state.
After puberty, minor neurological problems eventually abated. Sexual
development remained at a pubertal level while naturally-occurring virilization
of secondary characteristics compounded. As Harris' anatomy had developed
clearly along non-female lines i.e. no breasts, no milk glands, no child-bearing
hips, no menses, sterility; early beard growth, male vocal chords, male
skeletal structure, male musculature, male libido, male genetic patterning, he
felt justified to elect to live full-time in the male social gender role beginning
February, 1979.
For the following four years (1979 to 1983) he lived in a sexual legal limbo,
still carrying the original-and-only, valid female I.D. which now appeared both
obsolete and fraudulent. On numerous occasions when asked for proof of
identification, he was accused of strangely utilizing a 'counterfeit' or 'stolen'
I.D. card belonging to some woman.
Desire for a permanent legal remedy to rectify all I.D., thus making it
consistent with his outward persona, had become crucial. The subject
approached the Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, wrote his own petition
and pled his own case for 1) a change of middle name from "Elizabeth" to
"Edward"; and 2) a re-issued birth certificate changing the sex designation
from "female" to "male".
Based upon his unusual, documented medical history, on February 18, 1983
the Court, realizing the case had merit, granted the two-part request by
favorably adjudicating Case # 437625. With the judge's signature, Lynn
Elizabeth Harris no longer existed: She had become a legal non-entity.
Within a 30-day grace period following the Court proceeding, said change was
registered as legally required with the Social Security Administration, the
Secretary of State, and the State Registrar of Vital Statistics. State and public
agencies, intended to function as "subservient" to the courts, are obligated to
enforce and comply with all rulings as handed down.
In a blatant and unconscionable fashion the Vital Statistics Branch dared to
supersede the Superior Court and rejected the simple filing of the matter
because -- as was stipulated in their California Health and Safety Code -- 'no
plastic surgeon's affidavit of surgery had accompanied the approved,
submitted petition.'
However, within said code, no clause existed which mandated one's person to
'go under the knife' in order to obtain "characteristics of the opposite sex" --
whatever they may be. Since any type of "sex reassignment" surgical
procedure to define his ambiguous anatomy had never been his objective at
any time, in his petition Harris -- even after having investigated the pros and
cons -- disavowed any need for possible risk of mutilation, disfigurement, and
/ or rejection of foreign implants. Unequivocally, Lynn Edward Harris had
proven to the Court -- but not to the Sacramento bureaucrats who, then,
deigned to issue an amended Birth Certificate reading "Lynn Edward Harris" /
"Female" -- that Nature had bestowed upon him "characteristics of the
opposite sex" from birth.
Harris, denigrated by this mockery of his civil status, was already making
preparations to sue the state and / or approach an Appellate Court for
enforcement of his case which had seen prior favorable adjudication.
After a four-month delay, the Chief of the Vital Statistics Branch fully recanted
and admitted to having mis-handled the filing from the start. Finally, the
preferred middle name combined with, not an amended, but a brand new
Certificate of Live Birth with sex designation listed as "male" was formally
issued on June 2, 1983. All records of the original female middle name and
female birth certificate from 1950 were permanently frozen and sealed for life.
This case, which the Vital Statistics Branch could never define in their terms
as having "an opposite sex," has gone uncontested and unchallenged by
other bureaucratic, legal, and medical authorities. Subsequently, Harris is
presumed to have set the landmark or legal precedent in California, if not the
nation, of one's obtaining a legal sex revision without benefit of any cosmetic
or reconstructive "sex reassignment"-type surgery.
Further details are outlined in Harris' copyrighted [as yet unpublished]
autobiographical manuscript, "More Lives Than One".
Harris has become a pioneer / spokesman for Intersex freedoms and
transgender social justice; an advocate for a moratorium on surgeons'
gratuitous, so-called "corrective" or "normalizing" genital operations,
customarily performed on Intersexed neonates before they reach an age to
render informed consent --- unless dramatic genital ailments or malformations
(often caused by life-threatening metabolic disorders) are present and surgery
is warranted. Genital modification is not a panacea. It could facilitate one's
"apparent" social sex (re)classification on paper; but it could never
automatically revamp ones "actual" or "true" (often inconsistent and
conflicting) chromosomes, genes, gonadal composition, glandular / hormonal
output, overall brain circuitry and, in turn, one's inherent gender identification
and sexual proclivity.
Mr. Harris and his case since garnered publicity and media exposure in six
different countries and now appears on the world wide web. He has also
amassed over 100 credits as a widely-published author, collaborator and
contributor of articles in academic textbooks, journals, anthologies, and
popular books in the burgeoning field of Human Sexuality; and as a guest
lecturer / panelist at universities, colleges, medical trade seminars, private
sector organizations; and on nationally-syndicated radio and television
programs.
Lynn Edward Harris is single, resides in Los Angeles, California, leads a
mainstream lifestyle and is a devotee of all classic arts, cultural events,
antiques, travel, and metaphysics. Any inquiries for additional information or
professional bookings may be e-mailed to the address listed below.
copyright 1998 Lynn E. Harris, all rights
reserved.



Email: mrleharris@hotmail.com


Site Sponsors