Not because I think some priest/person couldn't be stupid enough to say that, but because I've Googled ["Lisa May Stevens"], ["Lisa May" suicide] and various other derivations and can only find references to this article or other articles referring to the Salon article.

I find it hard to believe that something as sensational as this story from 1999 wouldn't find its way to the Web.

1998, not 1999.

But that doesn't change what I think.

Once I read "you're all intersex" - it was obvious - he's lost all neutrality, and now he's all about promoting "intersex" causes. We are not all intersex - most of us need no surgery on our genitals to be male or female. And for most, there is no issue with the brain being a different gender either. So, no, we are not all intersex.

I don't buy the priest - not impossible, but not likely - but even if true - it was a decade later. Let's face reality - that suicide had nothing to do with that priest - she could have gotten a different opinion from any number of priests, pastors, friends, relatives, coworkers, etc. Another example of a bias, of an agenda here, to make the suicide out to be the fault of an intolerant priest.

Yeah, babies who don't fit one gender or another - their parents have a difficult choice, and we should look at the whole of the population before suggesting the best option. A few awful stories could no doubt be found for every option - a child who was left ambiguous to make their own choice miserable because they were denied a normal childhood, for instance. What is the best choice? Anecdotes tell us nothing.

It reassures me about being an eccentric -- else I'd be quite happy putting people a little (or a lot) different in boxes.

One thing you normals ought to contemplate: why do men have nipples?

The answer to that should lead you to the variations in development in the first trimester. They say "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" but overweening ignorance is worse.

This is a fascinating subject that gained my attention with the publication of an award-winning work of fiction.

My first suggested avenue of pursuit is Jeffrey Eugenides' book _Middlesex_ (1993) for a sensitive look at the issues, joys, and hardships in the lives of intersex individuals in this fine work of fiction. It's one of the best books I have read in a long, long time.

The book has won the following acclaim:

Awards: ALA Stonewall Book Award - Honor Book, Literature ; Audie Award Winner, Fiction-Unabridged; International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - Nominee, Fiction; National Books Critics Circle Awards - Nominee, Fiction; Ambassador Book Award - Winner, Fiction; Lambda Literary Award - Nominee, Transgender; Pulitzer Prize - Winner, Fiction; Great Lakes Book Award - Winner, Winner - Fiction

It was also an Oprah book club selection.

Second, scientists are now saying that there are chemicals in our environment that affect hormone production in many species, and they are finding more and more creatures with altered endocrine systems and intersex features. This can also render an animal sterile.

Author Joan Roughgarden discusses the effects of pollution on human expressions of sex in her book _Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People_.

Third, check out the website Intersex Society of North America for information, support, and advocacy: http://www.isna.org/.

I haven't read the book discussed here, but I will order it now. Thanks for the great info!

As someone with an intersex condition (complete androgen insensitivity syndrome) I find the ignorance of the majority of the commenters here to be...just about what I expect. I hear it everyday when people discuss gender. A few quick notes...

-not all intersex people are infertile

-not all intersex people have ambiguous genitalia

-YOU might be intersex and never know it!

My parents and I didn't know about my condition until I was 15 years old. On the outside I was a normal girl. It was only when I failed to menstruate that it occurred to us that there might be an issue. I look very feminine (more so than many of my 'normal' female friends) and identify as female, but suddenly felt as though I was a nothing. I suddenly knew that I couldn't have children, and had XY chromosomes and undescended testes. It took me a lot of time and a lot of learning to FULLY understand and accept who I am.

If this article interests you enough to warrant commenting, please make at least a small attempt to understand what you're commenting about. A good place to start is the website for the Intersex Society of North America.

A quote from the Catholic Answers Forum:

If I hear one more tale of a Catholic Priest advising a transsexual woman to go home and commit suicide to avoid public scandal, I will really need to sit down and work on my forgiveness even more. How I should pray for those who have lost their way. How of course advising someone to commit a mortal sin is contrary to all Catholic belief yada yada yada. Yes I know, and "no true priest" would ever do that. Well if so, there's hundreds of false ones. If you tell me there isn't a systemic problem here, pull the other leg, it's got bells on. Yes, the problem may be worse in some Protestant sects, I'm aware of that. That's irrelevant.

And from the commercialappeal.com article "Ex-fighter pilot listens to feminine voice he'd tried to ignore":

But many, like Darlene, lose their family and friends.

She was asked to leave her church. She was turned down by five churches when she asked to join. Friends told her never to speak to them again.

"The minister at one of the churches told me I should go home, put on a man's suit and kill myself," Darlene said.

It happens. I'm Intersexed, and although it's not happened to me, it's happened to people I know.