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Milton Diamond

1934 – 2024

American sexologist

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About Milton Diamond

Lived 1934 – 2024 (aged 90). Milton Diamond was an American biologist and university teacher, known for David Reimer.

Milton Diamond (March 6, 1934 After a career in the study of human sexuality, Diamond retired from the university in December 2009 but continued with his research and writing until retiring fully in 2018. He died on March 20, 2024, at the age of 90.

Early career Milton Diamond graduated from the City College of New York with a BS in biophysics in 1955, a critique of Money's work. In the early seventies, Diamond and Money were attending a conference on transgenderism in Dubrovnik. According to the book As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl (page 174), This case, which Money renamed that of "John/Joan" to protect Reimer's privacy, has become one of the most cited cases in the literature of psychiatry, anthropology, women's studies, child development, and biology of gender. With the cooperation of H. Keith Sigmundson, who had been Reimer's supervising psychiatrist, Diamond tracked down the adult Reimer and found that Money's sex reassignment of Reimer had failed. Diamond was the first to alert physicians that the model, proposed by Reimer's case, of how to treat infants with intersex conditions was faulty. that physicians should not perform surgery on intersex people without their informed consent,

Work, appointments and awards Diamond wrote extensively about abortion and family planning, pornography, intersexuality, transsexuality, and other sex- and reproduction-related issues for sex-related scientific journals as well as legal journals. He also wrote for lay periodicals. He was frequently interviewed for public media and legal matters, and often served as an expert in court proceedings, and was known for his research on the origins and development of sexual identity. He retired from teaching in 2009, but continued to research and consult concerning transsexuality, intersexuality and pornography until he retired fully in 2018.

Appointments Diamond was based at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, from 1967. and in 2001/02 President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

Awards The awards Diamond received include: 1999: the British GIRES Research Prize 2000: the German Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for sexual science 2005: the Norwegian Diversity Prize for his research efforts on behalf of transsexual and transgender people worldwide 2008: the first of a proposed annual award made by the German Intersex Society (Intersexuelle Menschen e.V.) "for his decades-long commitment to the benefit of intersex people"; 2009: the Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research by the University of Hawaiʻi; 2010: the Kinsey Award for 2011, made by the Midcontinent Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. 2015: the World Association for Sexual Health gold medal 2025: Posthumously awarded by InterACT: the 2024 Anne Tamar-Mattis Advocacy Award.

Selected publications

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Known for
David Reimer
Education
University of Kansas, City University of New York, University of Louisville School of Medicine, City College of New York
Employers
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, University of Louisville
Awards
Magnus Hirschfeld Medal

People in Milton Diamond's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Milton Diamond's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Milton Diamond?

American sexologist (1934–2024)

When was Milton Diamond born?

Milton Diamond was born on 6 March 1934 in New York City.

When did Milton Diamond die?

Milton Diamond died on 20 March 2024 in Honolulu.

What was Milton Diamond's occupation?

Milton Diamond was a biologist and university teacher.

What was Milton Diamond known for?

Milton Diamond was known for David Reimer.

What nationality was Milton Diamond?

Milton Diamond was American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Milton Diamond

· Wikidata: Q425166

· DBpedia: Milton Diamond

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Milton Diamond. https://biography.guide/milton-diamond/

MLA: "Milton Diamond." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/milton-diamond/.

Chicago: "Milton Diamond." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/milton-diamond/.

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