Milton Diamond, sexologist and advocate for intersex babies, dies at 90

He opposed doctors who recommended surgery on infants born with ambiguous genitalia, advocating acceptance of diversity .

Academic conferences are usually quiet affairs, but the 1973 International Symposium on Gender Identity, held in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, was an exception. Everything was peaceful until a psychologist named John Money stood up and shouted, "Mickey Diamond, I hate your guts!" »

Milton Diamond, a sexologist who had been called Mickey since childhood. , was sitting across the room. Dr. Money and Dr. Diamond were bitter rivals: Dr. Money, a nationally known researcher at Johns Hopkins University, had long argued that sexual and gender identity are neutral at birth and shaped primarily by infant environment.

Dr. Diamond, who was just beginning his career at the University of Hawaii, strongly disagreed and said so several times – including in a widely read review of Dr. Money's work in 1965. He took particular issue with the recommendation of the Dr. Money that intersex infants undergo surgery to "correct" their genitals.

Dr. The money rushed towards Dr. Diamond, falling in his face, furiously insisting that he was right.

Dr. Diamond only responded, "The data isn't there."

At one point, eyewitnesses reported that Dr. Money had punched Dr. Diamond, although which Dr. Diamond later stated that he had done so. I don't remember.

The incident, reported by journalist John Colapinto in Rolling Stone magazine and in a later book, "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl" (2000), has been particularly heated due to a recent announcement by Dr. Money.

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