Debate over marriage ignores the intersexed

BaltimoreSun.com – By Mark Casey

“One man, one woman” may be a popular slogan among politicians opposed to gay marriage. But for thousands of Americans for whom sexual identity is anything but straightforward, the phrase is a cruel joke.

On Aug. 14, 1956, Brian Sullivan was born to two loving parents in New Jersey. When he was 18 months old, at the advice of Brian’s doctor, his parents packed up and moved to a new town. There, they renamed him Bonnie Sullivan and raised him as a girl.

Years later, Bonnie found out that just before the move, her gender had been surgically assigned by her parents. At her birth, it was unclear whether Bonnie was a boy or a girl.