The Honorable Mark W. Everson
IRS Commissioner
1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20224
Sent by Fax: 202-622-XXXX
You recently received a letter from the Rev. Sheldon. We have a country
unique in the entire world where the practices and beliefs of the majority
are not inflicted on the minority. Our system of government protects
equally the rights of each citizen and not just those who fall in with the
majority. James Madison stated quite clearly in The Federalist Papers No.
10 the need to guard against the tyranny of an interested and
overbearing majority.
"Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and
virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of
public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that
the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that
measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and
the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested
and overbearing majority. However anxiously we may wish that these
complaints had no foundation, the evidence, of known facts will not permit
us to deny that they are in some degree true."
In his letter Rev. Sheldon is trying to insinuate his religious beliefs into
our secular system of government. He and many other Conservative
Christians believe that all of humanity should be required to live under
the rule of old testament biblical law. This directly contradicts our
constitution and sundry treaties with foreign governments. The Tripoli
Treaty of 1797 between the US and the Barbary States section 11 stated
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense,
founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of
enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as
the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any
Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising
from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony
existing between the two countries"
Our constitution in article 4 section 2 states in regards to the matter of
foreign treaties
"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made
in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the
Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in
the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."
Please note that the protections of the constitution are not superseded by
our foreign treaties.
Rev. Sheldon stated in his letter "The decision to give tax deductions
for 'sex change' operations sends the wrong message to individuals who
suffer from a Gender Identity Disorder. This is a mental condition, not
one that needs surgery. In fact, by giving this tax deduction, your agency
will be encouraging other mentally disturbed individuals to consider such
surgery as an unneeded surgical procedure for what is a troubled mind-
not a troubled body."
I would respectfully submit that he simply does not know what he is
talking about. No individual would wish to have this medical condition.
Much less seek a Gender Reassignment operation simply to claim a
deduction of the medical expenses on their tax return. The discongruity of
their minds gender with the psychological gender of their body is
something that simply cannot be counseled away.
If there was a viable alternative treatment myself and thousands of other
Americans would seek it out. The Standards of Care for transsexuals
written by the The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria
Association states:
"Sex Reassignment is Effective and Medically Indicated in Severe GID. In
persons diagnosed with transsexualism or profound GID, sex
reassignment surgery, along with hormone therapy and real-life
experience, is a treatment that has proven to be effective. Such a
therapeutic regimen, when prescribed or recommended by qualified
practitioners, is medically indicated and medically necessary. Sex
reassignment is not "experimental", "investigational", "elective",
"cosmetic", or optional in any meaningful sense. It constitutes very
effective and appropriate treatment for transsexualism or profound GID."
http://www.hbigda.org/socv6.cfm Indeed there is a direct conflict between the medical layman Rev.
Sheldon's opinion and the professional medical opinion stated above and
used by tens of thousands of medical professionals world wide. Not to
mention the experience of the individual transgendered people.
Based on current estimations there are approximately 11,596 male to
female(MTF) transsexuals and 4,703 female to male transsexuals(FTM) in
the United States (1 in 11,900 males and 1 in 30,400 females).
Worldwide it breaks down to roughly 257,084 MTF Transsexuals and
99,324 FTM transsexuals. The disparity between MTF and FTM
transsexuals can be attributed in my personal opinion to the fact that
women dressing and living in a male role is much more commonplace and
so more easily accepted in our society. Also you should consider that the
complexity and expense of a female to male sex change operation to that
of a male to female is much higher and is more intrusive physically.
Rev. Sheldon later goes on to state "The fact is that activists in the
homosexual and transgender movement consider such realities as male
and female to be cultural inventions. This is a false belief and one that
should not be supported by the IRS" and "The homo/trans movement is
currently guided by a belief that concepts such as male and female are
simply cultural inventions that can be altered at will by the individual. In
1993, a transgender legal group issued the 'International Gender Bill
of Rights,' that declares: 'It is fundamental that individuals have the
right to define, and to redefine as their lives unfold, their own gender
identity, without regard to chromosome sex, genitalia, assigned birth
sex, or initial gender role.' This is a sure recipe for sexual confusion
and life-long despair."
The only thing to despair here is increase in the already high number of
suicides by those suffering from Gender Identity Disorder(GID) and the
murders commited against them.
"The number of deaths in male-to-female transsexuals was five times the
number expected, due to increased numbers of suicide and death of
unknown cause." - "Mortality and Morbidity in Transsexual Patients with
Cross-Gender Hormone Treatment" -H. Asscheman, L.J.G. Gooren, and
P.L.E. Eklund
"Tansgender historian Candice "Kay" Brown recently calculated that a
murder rate of one male-to-female transsexual person each month
comes to ....16 times greater than the national average." - "Another
transgender murder Local TG group declares 'state of emergency and
national crisis' " by Vicky Kolakowski ,Bay Area Reporter, April 8, 1999
(Vol. 29, No, 14) p. 19 (c) 1999 Bay Area Reporter
From those who have had this as Rev. Sheldon stated "Unnecessary
procedure" we see a sharp reduction in the suicide rate.
"Post-reassignment, Pfafflin and Junge found reports of only 16 possible
suicide deaths among over 2000 cases: 14 in MTFs, one in an FTM, and
one with gender not specified. Five of the 16 may have been accidental
medication or drug overdoses rather than genuine suicides. In the
remaining 11 cases, suicide was usually not thought to be related to
gender problems per se. These results suggest that post- transition,
suicidal tendencies probably get no worse, and may actually improve." -
"Transsexual Surgery: Its Pros and Cons" By Anne Lawrence, M.D.
Rev. Sheldon writes "The simple fact is that no one can change sexes. A
male who has his sex organs removed and takes hormones for breast
enhancement is still genetically a male-not a woman. This is an
unchangeable reality. A man can no more become a woman than he can
become a Dodge Minivan. A person who thinks otherwise is delusional-
and needs professional care."
He portrays gender as A and B, Male and Female. He totally ignores the
whole spectrum of intersexed individuals.
"While SCA can include a variety of abnormalities of the sex
chromosomes, by far the most commonly occurring SCA involve the
deletion (45,X or partial X monosomy) or addition (47,XXY, 47,XYY,
47,XXX) of an X or Y chromosome. Of these conditions, only Turner
syndrome, caused by the loss of all or part of an X chromosome, results
in an easily identifiable physical phenotype. Subtle language, neuromotor,
and learning difficulties have been identified in most forms of SCA,
however. The neurodevelopmental effects of the 47XXY (Klinefelter
Syndrome) and 47XXX karyotypes also have been invesitgated in light of
these phenotypic features."
Some statistics from the Intersexed Society of North America might prove
useful.
"The following statistics are drawn from the work of Dr. Fausto-Sterling's
and her colleagues (2). Note that the frequency of some of these
conditions, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia, differs for different
populations. These statistics are approximations.
Not XX and not XY
1 in 1,666 births
Klinefelter (XXY)
1 in 1,000 births
Androgen insensitivity syndrome
1 in 13,000 births
Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome
1 in 130,000 births
Classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia
1 in 13,000 births
Late onset adrenal hyperplasia
1 in 66 individuals
Vaginal agenesis
1 in 6,000 births
Ovotestes
1 in 83,000 births
Idiopathic (no discernable medical cause)
1 in 110,000 births
Iatrogenic (caused by medical treatment, for instance progestin administered to pregnant mother)
no estimate
5 alpha reductase deficiency
no estimate
Mixed gonadal dysgenesis
no estimate
Complete gonadal dysgenesis
1 in 150,000 births
Hypospadias (urethral opening in perineum or along penile shaft)
1 in 2,000 births
Hypospadias (urethral opening between corona and tip of glans penis) 1 in
770 births
Total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female 1 in
100 births
Total number of people receiving surgery to "normalize" genital appearance
1 or 2 in 1,000 births"
I myself have never been tested to see if one of the above applies to me
instead I am following the route of the classic transsexual.
While it is true you can not change the chromosomal sex of an individual
with current procedures you can go a long way towards ending the mental
pain suffered by these individuals. I don't believe that in having the
Gender Reassignment surgery that I am changing my gender. I believe
that I am fixing a birth defect. My mind proclaims I am female while my
body says I am male. It's known there are psychological differences
between males and females in the brain. It's also known that the brains of
a transsexual individuals psychologically resembles that of the identified
sex in key areas.
From the Wikipedia "There has been preliminary evidence to suggest that
the brains of transsexual people are wired in alignment with their
perceived gender identity: transsexual women have a female brain,
transsexual men have a male brain. This evidence concerns the central
subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (known as BSTc, a
part of the Striatum). Males have a larger BSTc than females; in a study
of six male-to-female transsexuals' brains, it was found that all had a
female-sized BSTc.
[1]
http://www.symposion.com/ijt/ijtc0106.htm[2]
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/85/5/2034?ijkey=3b96d2a5b484008ddb217db0011974bc17e940d6&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha Likewise, it has been found that a transsexual male (a person identified
as female at birth but who identified as a man) had a male-sized BSTc
region.
[3]
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/22/3/1027?ijkey=9eaf15ba349455e4b788509d3c3c1e2d8ccd6dd8&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha A 1997 paper by Zhou, Hofman, Gooren and Swaab discussed the high
accuracy and applicability of the male-to-female results despite the small
size of the study."
http://www.genderpsychology.org/psychology/BSTc.html Sex Reassignment is a costly procedure one that is limited enough for
most Americans by the expense further discouragement by removing
ability to take a tax deduction for the medical expense incurred would
harm and not help in this situation.
Anyway I hope this provides you with enough information to counteract
the uninformed and clearly biased statements made to you by the Rev.
Sheldon in his correspondence
Susan Larson
Susan's Place Transgender Resources
https://www.susans.orgEmail:
susan@susans.org
