Casimir Pulaski is getting a coming-out party almost three centuries late. The Polish nobleman and Revolutionary War hero who saved George Washington’s life was intersex, according to a soon-to-air documentary.
Although CAH is among the most common causes of intersex variations, it’s not the sole determinant of whether a child will be born intersex. Overall, estimates suggest there are up to 5.5 million intersex people in the United States today—a population that’s roughly the size of Minnesota’s.
Examples like Barbin are few and far between, according to Victor Salvo, founder of the Legacy Project, an educational program designed to teach youth about the contributions of LGBTQ people throughout history. One of the difficulties with locating trans, gender nonconforming, and intersex people within that narrative is that their identities are often discovered only after death, and that information may be suppressed due to the prevailing mores of the era.
Israel Wright, former executive director of the LGBT Hall of Fame at the Chicago History Museum, says Pulaski could help fill gaps in local history where the lives of intersex people should be. The Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1991, has yet to induct an intersex person. While nearly 50 trans individuals have been honored in the decades since, the original class of inductees was entirely made up of cis people.
Without an intersex person at the front lines living as themselves, Chicago-based intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis says, the reality is that America “would still be a colony.”
Mon 4/8, 7 PM, Smithsonian Channel
