The Kind Clinic in Austin expands to provide intersex-specific health care

The Kind Clinic, a program of Texas Health Action that provides free sexual health care in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, will expand to provide intersex-specific health care.

A person who is intersex is born having some characteristics of male and female genders. About 1.7% of the population is intersex, according to research by Brown University.

"What we're talking about is a more comprehensive way of taking care of people who are intersex," said Christopher Hamilton, the CEO of Texas Health Action.

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What does intersex-specific health care look like?

It starts with the registration forms, Hamilton said, that ask if a person identifies as intersex. Questions also include specifics of the type of intersex if the person knows, any surgical procedures done as children, and helping a person get medical records to achieve better care.

The clinic's staff is trained to understand the different variations of intersex people and what medical needs they might have, Hamilton said. Some might need hormone therapy. While Kind Clinic mainly deals with sexual health, it has a list of intersex-friendly medical providers and services for its patients.

Why is there a need for intersex care?

As more members of the intersex community share their stories, the public consciousness has increased. This summer, Austin-based Alicia Roth Weigel appeared in a documentary about being intersex, "Every Body," which played locally at the Alamo Drafthouse. This month, Author Pidgeon Pagonis released the book "Nobody Needs to Know," titled because they had been told by a physician to keep secret being intersex.

Roth Weigel played a role in the start of intersex care at the Kind Clinic. She began using the Kind Clinic for her sexual health and then joined the clinic's community advisory board. "I noticed very early on there wasn't a lot of intersex information," she told the American-Statesman about her experience when she first used the Kind Clinic.

She said she helped educate doctors about her needs, and the new program took hold from there. "Thankfully, the Kind Clinic was always receptive to that and truly serving the LGBTQIA+ community," she said. This is about better serving the "I" in that acronym, she said.

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The Kind Clinic surveyed intersex people nationally about their health care needs and found that 65% didn't disclose their intersex status to medical professionals, 62% refrained from medical care because they were intersex, and 51% traveled more than 50 miles for medical care.

Respondents talked about fertility and long-term health concerns, mistrust of doctors due to misinformation, and doctors' refusal to listen, affirm or advocate on their behalf as intersex patients.

"Doctors had no idea how to meet their needs," Roth Weigel said. "They would throw their hands up and have no idea, having had little education about intersex."

The education for doctors and the staff is part of creating an intersex-focused practice, Hamilton said, and as the clinic grows and the staff learns, the Kind Clinic could add an intersex health specialist.