[AK,USA]
The Transgender American Veterans Association

Transgender veterans exist; the Transgender American Veterans Association http://www.tavausa. org/ (TAVA) was formed in 2003 with transgender veterans in mind.

Transgender veterans group to hold kickoff

The Massachusetts Transgender Veterans Association will hold its official state chapter kickoff Oct. 27-29 at the DCU Center during the Transcending Boundaries and PFLAG's Northeast Regional Conference 2006 in Worcester.

[USA]

Letters: What if It’s (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl?

Elizabeth Weil's article (Sept 24) presented important information but did not address the issue of prevention in the most common cause of genital ambiguity, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, in which the adrenal glands overproduce androgens (malelike hormones), owing to a genetic defect. These overproduced androgens masculinize the female fetus in utero, such that she is born with ambiguous genitalia, making sex assignment in the newborn difficult. There is now ample evidence that treatment of the fetus by administering medication to the mother from early in pregnancy to term can prevent the masculinization of the genitalia in the female fetus. Prenatal diagnosis (via DNA analysis) and treatment have proven so far to be effective. Such treatment prevents genital ambiguity and causes the affected female to be born with normal female genitalia, and thus no confusion of sex assignment.

Maria New, M.D.
Director, Adrenal Steroid Disorders Program,
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York