Johns Hopkins University has responded to the negative outcry its controversial definition of “lesbian” sparked.
The Maryland-based university’s Diversity & Inclusion’s glossary for Gender & Sexuality Resources defined a lesbian as a “non-man attracted to non-men.”
“While past definitions refer to ‘lesbian’ as a woman who is emotionally, romantically, and/or sexually attracted to other women, this updated definition includes non-binary people who may also identify with the label,” the glossary noted.
The university was accused of trying to erase women and of “progressive misogyny.”
In an article for OutKick, Ian Miller wrote:
How long until we’re all celebrating “National Non-Man Day?” Or seeing proclamations from Joe Biden and the White House on the contributions of “non-men?”
How long until women becomes an offensive, unsayable word in polite society?
It might sound ridiculous, but as ridiculous as defining women as “non-men?”
Never, ever underestimate the power of woke liberals to push reality to the back in favor of their own agenda.
Jill Rosen, Hopkin’s director of media relations, ultimately addressed the controversy in a statement emailed to The Messenger.
“Upon becoming aware of the language in question, we have begun working to determine the origin and context of the glossary’s definitions. We have removed the page from our website while we gather more information,” wrote Rosen. She added that the glossary is “an introduction to the range of identities and terms that are used within LGBTQ communities,” and is not meant to “serve as the definitive answers as to how all people understand or use these terms.”
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was ranked as America’s second-best research-oriented medical school in 2020. It was ranked number one of four specialties, including internal medicine, anesthesiology, radiology, and surgery.
In 2017, Hopkins ended its 38-year hiatus of gender-related medical services and surgeries. The school had been considered a pioneer in the gender-identity field and was the first medical institution to offer “change-of-sex” operations in 1966. The school stopped offering the surgeries in 1979 at the behest of its chief of psychiatry, Paul McHugh, who argued that transgenderism was a psychological and not biological issue. Even after leaving his chief position, McHugh insisted he believed transgender-identifying people should be offered help in the form of psychiatric – not medical – intervention.
The Washington Post noted that McHugh “successfully lobbied for more than 30 years to keep gender-reassignment surgery from becoming a Medicare benefit” and that he supported “the operation for those born with an intersex condition, which means having a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fall into the typical definition of male or female.”
The university ultimately embraced a progressive view of gender identity that relies on the physical alteration of a person’s biological form.
Hopkins currently operates the Center for Transgender and Gender Expansive Health, which offers “comprehensive, evidence-based and affirming care for transgender youth and adults that is in line with the standards of care set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health” to children and adolescents.
Services offered to minors who self-identify as transgender include “dermatology, facial gender surgery, fertility, gynecology and obstetrics, hormone treatment, hysterectomy, mental health, penile construction (phalloplasty/metoidioplasty), primary care, top surgery (mastectomy or augmentation), urology, vaginal construction (vaginoplasty), and voice therapy,” according to the center’s website.
Hopkins offers a 2- to 4-week clinical elective course in transgender medicine for “urban health residents who want to learn more about the care of transgender and gender-diverse patients” as well as a complex gender microsurgery fellowship.
