Intersex Awareness Day 2016

Intersex Awareness Day takes place on October 26 each year. This year, 2016, marks the 12th anniversary of the first one, or the 12th if you count the very first time it was talked about, in 2003. When it was first started, it was suggested the entire month of October be devoted to talking about intersex; today many recognize it as the period between October 26 and November 8, which is noted as Intersex Solidarity Day.

Twelve years ago, the nascent intersex movement was still trying to find its way in a world where few people knew what intersex was, and fewer people were openly talking about their own intersex status. The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) was still going strong, and a few diagnosis-specific organizations were starting to turn up on the internet to provide support and information about specific types of intersex to those affected and their families. Two years earlier in 2002, Bodies Like Ours came on line in an effort to reach out to intersex people by providing an online forum and information about intersex that was not focused on specific traits but, rather, the experience and state of intersex – what it means to be born with a body that that doesn’t fit the standard definitions of what it means to be male or female.

For the first time, intersex people and those affected by intersex variations were talking about it, publicly and as a group. Sure, the forums encouraged the use of aliases but real people with real variations of intersex were talking about it, together, in real time. The forums were not hidden behind a wall – anyone with internet access could read the conversations. And read they did – and talk about it they did. Intersex was gradually coming out into the world.

Sometime in mid-2003, Emi Koyoma, who had worked at ISNA and was by then running a website of her own called The Portland Intersex Initiative, or IPDX, and I, Betsy Driver, co-founder of Bodies Like Ours, started to kick around some ideas on how to get more media attention about intersex, and how to get campus organizations to host a speaker or perhaps some other type of informational session about intersex. We decided that we needed to come up with a day to recognize intersex and some of those behind the movement.

It didn’t take us long to come up with October 26. I think it was Emi who came up with the date. It was the anniversary of a 1996 ISNA protest, under the banner of Hermaphrodites with Attitude, and in conjunction with allies from Transexual Menace, in Boston where the American Academy of Pediatrics was holding their annual meeting. We quickly agreed the demonstration would be the day we recognized and set forth to building a website and sending out some press releases.

We framed Intersex Awareness Day as a grassroots effort to raise awareness around intersex. We encouraged other organizations to join in with it. In short, we put it out there in the hopes that different groups and different people would somehow take up the banner and make it into something. That first year, 2003, nothing much came of it. We didn’t even launch the website until less than a month before October 26th.

We did, however, make it into the syndicated News Of The Weird that first year. While that may seem at first to have been an affront, they actually did us a huge favor by printing that little blurb trying to make light of our idea; it gave us incredible exposure since Weird News was a syndicated service and went out to thousands of print outlets. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to get publicity.

Once 2004 came along, word had spread about Intersex Awareness Day. Events were planned throughout the world by different advocates and were taking place in community forums, on campuses, and in community centers.

Intersex spokesperson speaks in the European Parliament for the first time ever today

In an historical first this afternoon, the European Parliament heard from an intersex person on the rights and needs of intersex people across Europe

Intersex people are born with bodies that do not entirely match the definition of either the male or female gender.

During a public hearing on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2015, Dan Christian Ghattas, explained the situation of intersex people in Europe.

"It is estimated that around 1 in 200 people are born intersex," Ghattas explained, "and they are usually subjected to surgery and hormone treatment within the first two years of their lives in order to fulfil societal expectations about gender."

"This treatment of infants means that we do not get the opportunity to make choices about our own bodies. Most intersex people experience psychological trauma as a result.

"This is a violation of our right to self-determination, and contravenes the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

"We are asking the European Parliament to take an active role in supporting our rights, including a European Parliament own-initiative report on the rights of intersex people and a study on how EU gender equality legislation could be used to protect our rights."

Vice President of the European Parliament's LGBTI Intergroup, Malin Björk, commented: “LGBTIQ people face a constant political battle for the right to exist. Gender norms around how male and female bodies should look lead to a violation of the right to bodily integrity of intersex people."

"This is a form of violence and we have a responsibility to fight against in our struggle for justice. Therefore, the presence of an intersex organisation in the European Parliament in a hearing on fundamental rights is politically important, and something I value and celebrate.”

Ghattas appeared in the Parliament this afternoon with the support of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL), the Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII), and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

GUE/NGL Press Contact:

Nikki Sullings +32 22 83 27 60 / +32 483 03 55 75

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20

Related MEPs

Intersex Issues in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

From discussions at the Third International Intersex Forum in Malta, December 2013, a meeting of activists and experts took place in Geneva, in September 2014, on revision and reform of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the World Health Organization (WHO). The meeting aimed to develop a collective analysis of intersex issues in the ICD, identify connections between diagnoses and treatments, and to highlight human rights issues related to current biomedical management practices.

The September 2014 meeting was organised by the GATE International Initiative on the ICD Reform Process, in partnership with ILGA. It was planned and coordinated by Mauro Cabral (GATE) and facilitated by Ruth Baldaccino (ILGA). Participants in the meeting were Janik Bastien-Charlebois (Canada); Morgan Carpenter (Australia); Dan Ghattas (Germany); Holly Greenberry (UK); Natasha Jimenez (Costa Rica); Ev Blaine Matthigack (Germany); Nthabiseng Mokoena (South Africa); Daniela Truffer (Switzerland) and Markus Bauer (Switzerland). The meeting was also attended by Doris Chou (WHO); Sara Cotter (WHO); André Du Plessis (ILGA); Robert Jakob (WHO); Rajat Khosla (WHO); Eszter Kismödi (Human Rights lawyer); Renato Sabadini (ILGA); and Michael van Gelderen (OHCHR).

Following the meeting, this report was submitted in November 2014 to the WHO Topic Advisory Group for Genitourinary, Reproductive & Maternal Health (GURM TAG) for the ICD revision. The submission addresses specific concerns related to intersex issues in the ICD reform process. It was edited by Morgan Carpenter and Mauro Cabral, with substantive contributions from the intersex activists, experts and allies convened by GATE.

The report establishes a set of grounding principles, and provides an overview of terminological and historical issues, before an analysis of broad and specific issues with the ICD framework and diagnoses. The submission also details human rights concerns and presents an epistemological analysis. The submission is intended as an invitation for a critical dialogue between intersex activists and the World Health Organization.

Intersex issues and the International Classification of Diseases 

The ICD revision and reform process has a key relevance for the intersex movement. Diagnostic categories play a central role in expressing scientific understandings, establishing medical approaches, informing clinical protocols, defining surgical, hormonal and other treatments. Diagnostic categories defining intersex bodies reify differences between stereotypical female and male bodies on the one hand, considered to be healthy, and bodies that vary from female and male standards on the other hand, considered to be “disordered”, or “abnormal”. Current classifications therefore contribute to stigma and discrimination against intersex people; they endow appropriateness to medical attempts to “fix” or “normalize” intersex bodies through surgical and hormonal means. 

They play a direct role in determining how intersex bodies are treated in society at large. Everywhere in the world, people born with intersex traits are subjected to “normalizing” procedures, including clitoridectomies, labioplasties, vaginoplasties, gonadectomies, hypospadias “repair”, and treatment with steroids or sex hormones. Many of these procedures are performed during infancy and early childhood when intersex individuals cannot provide their informed consent. Intersex babies, infants, children and adolescents are also subjected to related practices in medical settings, such as continued exposure. 

In different parts of the world, treatments also include socio-legal measures, including a lack of birth certificates. Most of these treatments have lifelong consequences: they produce sterility, genital insensitivity and impaired sexual function, chronic pain, chronic bleeding, and chronic infections, post-surgical depression, and trauma (in many cases associated with the experience of rape), massive internal and external scarring, metabolic imbalances. These procedures have been internationally denounced as institutionalized forms of genital mutilation. 

They reproduce and reinforce the cultural sense of intersex bodies as disordered and shameful; they produce coercive social environments. The ICD reform process would benefit from a in-depth revision of assumptions and conceptions around sex, and the connection between clinical language and treatments. In our review of both ICD-10 and ICD-11 (Beta), it is notable that the term intersex is not explicitly included; however, intersex-related diagnoses are contained in both versions, with many common characteristics: ! Both ICD versions share the same implicit and normative conception of sex as binary, rendering all bodies that vary from female or male standards as pathological by definition. ! While heterogeneous in their application, both ICD versions share the same negative definitional approach to intersex bodies, employing pathologizing and stigmatizing diagnostic descriptions such as “disorder”, “disease”, “malformation”, “pathologic”, “defect”, and “abnormality”. Multiple such terms may be employed in the same diagnosis. Both ICD versions combine different diagnostic languages (such as, ‘hermaphroditism’ and ‘DSD’).

Download the Document HERE 

also see: DSM-5 FALLS SHORT ON GENDER DYSPHORIA REVISION, ICD 11 UPDATE 2013 from GLBTQJA Wordpress

Critique and Alternative Proposal to the “Gender Incongruence of Childhood” Category in ICD-11 PDF

Peace & tolerance

H

Intersex Awareness Day 2015

Intersex Awareness Day is an internationally observed civil awareness day designed to highlight the issues faced by intersex people.

The event marks the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America, on October 26, 1996, outside the venue in Boston where the American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. Intersex activists from Intersex Society of North America were Morgan Holmes and Max Beck, alongside allies from Transexual Menace including Riki Wilchins. The group demonstrated carrying a sign saying "Hermaphrodites With Attitude". The commemoration day itself began in 2003.

also see: UN launches Intersex Fact Sheet 2015 and Despite opposition, EU Parliament votes for LGBTI rights/trans identity depathologization in gender equality

Intersex Awareness Day is an international day of grass-roots action to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital cosmetic surgeries on intersex children. The day also provides an opportunity for reflection and political action. Between October 26 and November 8, intersex organizations try to bring attention to the challenges intersex individuals face, culminating in the Intersex Day of Remembrance on the birthday of Herculine Barbin, also sometimes known as Intersex Solidarity Day.

Notable observances:

On Friday 25 October 2013, the day before Intersex Awareness Day that year, the Australian Senate published a report on an inquiry titled the Involuntary or coerced sterilization of intersex people in Australia. On 11 November 2014, the New South Wales Legislative Council in Australia passed a motion marking Intersex Awareness Day and calling on the State government to "work with the Australian Government to implement the recommendations" of the 2013 Senate committee report.


For Intersex Awareness Day 2014, the Senate of the German Land of Berlin issued a statement calling for self-determination for intersex people. Also in 2014, the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, held a visibility event on intersex issues.

Relationship with LGBT and queer communities


The relationship of Intersex campaigners to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans, and queer communities, is a little complex. In an Intersex for allies explanatory leaflet, the organisation states that some intersex individuals are same sex attracted, and some are heterosexual, but "LGBTI activism has fought for the rights of people who fall outside of expected binary sex and gender norms. 

Intersex is part of LGBTI because of intersex status and a shared experience of homophobia, not because of sexual orientation or gender identity." An associated guide for service providers comments that not all intersex people identify with the LGBTI "human rights movement.

Important to Remember:

INTERSEX is not a part of transgender because intersex is not about gender. Intersex is about anatomical differences in sex.

Below are some of the differences in the experience of trans and intersex individuals.

Trans:
Self-identified gender does not match apparent sex at birth.
Some human rights protection. In NSW this is limited to “recognized transgender” or people thought to be “transgender” – 36B Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 in Australia.

Can change cardinal documents, but usually requires irreversible surgeries usually involving sterilization and applicants must not be married. (wish we had that)

The right to marry someone of the opposite legal gender.

A full and functional reproductive system.

Physical differences limited to brain anatomy.

Transsexual people have an effective medical protocol that produces a 98% effective outcome with long-term studies and follow-ups.

The right to choose the time of surgery with extensive peer support.

The ability to participate fully and in an informed manner in their surgical and hormonal options.

Transsexual people generally have a strongly defined sense of gender – man or woman.

Can compete in sport up to and including Olympic level through established protocols.

Many effective and extensive organizations worldwide, with some NGOs attracting government funding (e.g. NSW Gender Centre).

also see:

More on Intersexuality from a 2010 post and this one from 2011

also see: IGLHRC Hails Landmark Law in Malta on Gender Identity, Expression and Protections for Intersex Children

Footage from the side event on the human rights of intersex people, organised during the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council by Advocates for Informed Choice, CIPD, Organisation Intersex International Australia Limited, Oii-Chinese and OII Europe, supported by ILGA and COC Nederland.

download the brochure HERE

I stand in solidarity with my intersex brethren most of whom I have met through this blog and will continue to share any relevant information to raise awareness.

also see:

"Curing Intersex Is Damaging and Common": Great Piece by OII-Australia Member, Morgan Carpenter

Impossible for Intersex People to be Cisgender?

Peace & tolerance

H

EU adopts historic intersex resolution

Some good news just a day prior to the Intersex Awareness Day normally observed on October 26th annually since 1996.

article Courtesy of Heather Cassell

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe took a historic first step toward protecting intersex children with the adoption of Resolution 1952 (2013), Children's Right to Physical Integrity, October 3.

It is the first time the union has ever addressed the bodily integrity of intersex children.

It is also the first of its kind resolution to address intersex children from a human rights perspective, rather than a medical approach, to maintain the right to bodily integrity. It calls for the "end of cosmetic medical and surgical treatment," according to the joint news release by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and the Organization Intersex International Europe.

The resolution was drafted in partnership by the ILGBTIA and OII-Europe.

ILGBTIA is a non-governmental organization working on behalf of LGBTI rights. OII-Europe is the European branch of the OII, an international organization working for the rights of intersex individuals.

The resolution not only protects intersex children from medically altering their bodies without consent, but also includes other cosmetic procedures, from circumcision to piercing to tattooing.

The resolution also calls upon council members to direct member states to "undertake further research to increase knowledge about the specific situation of intersex people," according to the release.

Garnering more specific details about intersex individuals' lives includes ensuring that no one is subjected to "unnecessary medical or surgical treatment that is cosmetic rather than vital for health during infancy or childhood" and to "guarantee bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination." It also calls for adequate counseling and support for families with intersex children.

Representatives from OII or OII-Europe were unable to respond to a request for comment by press time.

The signing of the resolution is a part of a new ongoing effort of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union to protect LGBT including intersex individuals' human rights.

In June, the same council published comprehensive and legally binding guidelines to EU institutions and member states outlining progressive ways to advance human rights for LGBT and intersex individuals. The guidelines cover contacts with third countries and with international and civil society organizations.

Debating circumcision rights

Not everyone is happy with the resolution. Leaders of Israeli and European Jewish organizations spoke out harshly against the resolution, which included brit mila, the traditional religious ritual where male children are circumcised.

"This is a sign of anti-Semitism, in my opinion," Benjamin Albalas, president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, told the Jerusalem Post.

Religious ceremonies that require any type of alteration of a child's body for non-medical reasons were included in the resolution, along with female genital mutilation.

Any suggestion to ban circumcision "sends out a terrible message to European Jews that our practices, and therefore our very presence on this continent, is treated with disdain," said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, reported thePost .

A large majority of the 642 delegates voted to remove a reference to the "religious rights of parents and families" from the measure, reported the Post.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin of the European Jewish Association based in Brussels pointed out that scientific information used in the report wasn't complete, not including opinions from experts from the World Health Organization about the positive health aspects of circumcision, she said.

To listen to sections of the report and presentation, visit http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/intergroup-documents/summary-trans-and-intersex-people-challenges-for-eu-law/.

New LGBT general rapporteur appointed to EU

Robert Biedron was appointed as the new general rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The appointment was made unanimously by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination on September 17 in Madrid, but news of Biedron's new post wasn't publicly announced until October 2.

Biedron, a 37-year-old gay politician, replaces Hakon Haugli, who was the first holder of this mandate, according to the assembly's website.

Biedron was elected to the Polish Parliament in 2011 and has served in the EU and on the committee. He is also the vice-chairperson of the Committee of Justice and Human Rights and was the first openly gay member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs at the Sejm.

Biedron's responsibilities in his new role include intervening, protecting, and promoting LGBT rights, particularly related to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Additionally, Biedron will report periodically to the committee on information collected and actions taken related to violations of LGBT rights, which remain a problem, he said in an interview on the committee's website.

Biedron believes that continuing to relay the message that LGBT rights are basic human rights is "crucial" throughout Europe, he said.

Other top issues on his mind are protecting transgender individuals and focusing more attention on the needs and rights of LBT women in the EU.

"Violations of the rights of LGBT people are indeed a major problem in Europe," said Biedron, pointing out that the EU has adopted several resolutions and recommendations on LGBT human rights. "I will follow up on their implementation. My roadmap will be the recent report by Mr. Hakon Haugli, former general rapporteur, on 'tackling discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.' I will do my best to continue his excellent work."

Today is the 16th Intersex Awareness Day

by Howie Fiedhior and Gina (of OII Australia) 

Intersex people are people who have physical differences of sex anatomy other than brain sex alone. Their anatomical differences might include genetic, hormonal or genital differences or differences in our reproductive parts.

Happy belated Intersex Awareness Day to the small number of persons here in Jamaica, my apologies for the lateness of this post in a sense but due to the passage of hurricane Sandy over the past two days we were out of electricity and internet services, however here is a post I hope both intersex and non intersex persons will find informative as we do not forget to include the "I" in LGBTI agitation wordwide.

The first Intersex Awareness Day (IAD) came about when the American intersex group named Hermaphrodites with Attitude (HWA) teamed up with American Trans group Trans Menace to picket an American Association of Paediatrics (AAP) conference in Boston on 26th October 1996.

Those picketing this event were outraged that the doctors attending the conference were recommending and conducting infant genital surgery on intersex kids in order to make them more “normal”. Some of those protesting had been subjected to those kinds of surgery when they were infants.

The central message of Intersex Awareness Day (IAD) is the de-medicalisation of natural variations in a person’s sex anatomy. Intersex is not a disease, a disorder, a medical “condition”. The use of stigmatising language such as this has led to poor mental health, marginalisation even invisibilisation, and exclusion from social institutions for Intersex people.

On this day we hope to make as many people as possible aware of what intersex is and that intersex people everywhere lack those most fundamental human rights, the right to autonomy over our own bodies, the right to a life without discrimination, the right to a life without shame and secrecy.

In short it is a call for our right to an equal place in society.
Intersex is difference in the same way that eye colour or right- or left-handedness are differences or human biological variations. As with handedness or sexual orientation, societies have, in the past, looked upon human variations through the lens of prejudice and then sought ways to “cure” or eliminate that variation.

At a fundamental level homophobic bigotry, intolerance and ancient superstitions underpin contemporary mistreatment of intersex people.

Intersex people are subjected to forced gendering and surgical alterations to our bodies to “disappear” our differences in a society that regards difference in sex anatomy as deeply suspicious.

More on What is intersex?

Intersex refers to a series of medical conditions in which a child's genetic sex (chromosomes) and phenotypic sex (genital appearance) do not match, or are somehow different from the "standard" male or female. About one in 2,000 babies are born visibly intersexed, while some others are detected later. The current medical protocol calls for the surgical "reconstruction" of these different but healthy bodies to make them "normal," but this practice has become increasingly controversial as adults who went through the treatment report being physically, emotionally, and sexually harmed by such procedures.

Beside stopping cosmetic genital surgeries, what are intersex activists working toward?

Surgery is just part of a larger pattern of how intersex children are treated; it is also important to stop shame, secrecy and isolation that are socially and medically imposed on children born with intersex conditions under the theory that the child is better off it they didn't hear anything about it. Therefore, it's not enough to simply stop the surgery; we need to replace it with social and psychological support as well as open and honest communication.

What's so significant about October 26?

On October 26, 1996, intersex activists from Intersex Society of North America (carrying the sign "Hermaphrodites With Attitude") and our allies from Transexual Menace held the first public intersex demonstration in Boston, where American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. The action generated a lot of press coverage, and made it difficult for the medical community to continue to neglect our growing movement. That said, events related to Intersex Awareness Day can take place throughout October and does not necessarily have to be on the 26th.

Important to Remember:

INTERSEX is not a part of transgender because intersex is not about gender. Intersex is about anatomical differences in sex.

Below are some of the differences in the experience of trans and intersex individuals
Trans:
Self-identified gender does not match apparent sex at birth.
Some human rights protection. In NSW this is limited to “recognised transgender” or people thought to be “transgendered” – 36B Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 in Australia.

Can change cardinal documents, but usually requires irreversible surgeries usually involving sterilization and applicants must not be married.

The right to marry someone of the opposite legal gender.

A full and functional reproductive system.

Physical differences limited to brain anatomy.

Transsexual people have an effective medical protocol that produces a 98% effective outcome with long-term studies and follow-ups.

The right to choose the time of surgery with extensive peer support.

The ability to participate fully and in an informed manner in their surgical and hormonal options.

Transsexual people generally have a strongly defined sense of gender – man or woman.

Can compete in sport up to and including Olympic level through established protocols.

Many effective and extensive organizations worldwide, with some NGOs attracting government funding (e.g. NSW Gender
Centre).

also see:

More on Intersexuality

Melbourne elects Australia's first intersex Mayor

Melbourne has Australia’s first openly intersex Mayor following the election of long time queer community supporter and advocate Councillor Tony Briffa to the top position at the City of Hobsons Bay at the end of November.

Not being associated with any particular political party, Tony Briffa is an independent councillor whose focus has remained on representing his community (where he has lived all his life), community diversity and environmental issues.

Speaking enthusiastically at the launch of the Midsumma 2012 program on the weekend before the Hobson’s Bay election, Briffa who was a councilor at the time, said he was proud to be a member of the queer community and excited about the involvement of the city he represented in the full cultural life of Melbourne.

At the launch, he announced his intention to run for mayor, promising that should he get the top mayor position that he would be attending Victoria’s Pride March in February 2012 in full mayoral robes. Since officially becoming Mayor of the city of Hobsons Bay, Briffa has re-confirmed his intention to march at Pride March in the official robes. The City of Hobsons Bay, which includes the suburbs of Altona, Brooklyn, Laverton, Newport, Seabrook, Spotswood and Williamstown, has played an increasingly significant role in Melbourne’s queer cultural celebration the Midsumma Festival over the past few years, becoming a major hub of the 2012 program.

“I am excited about the future of our community and look forward to serving the city with enthusiasm and pride,” Briffa said following his election.

National LGBTI Health Alliance Board Member Gina Wilson says Briffa is inspiring.

“Tony is an inspiration and a role model for a whole generation of intersex people, both those who have suffered early interventions and those who have come to their differences later in life,” Wilson said.

“We share Tony’s hope that his election will break down taboos associated with intersex differences. Tony is a wonderful example of how intersex people can overcome the devastating and unnecessary medical treatment meted out to so many intersex children, and go on to become champions of human rights and cultural diversity for everyone.”

Additional Information:
The following is provided to help people understand who I am on a more personal level, particularly given my genetic intersex condition and some of the media articles about it. (Note that intersex conditions are sometimes also referred to as Disorders of Sexual Development, but I like to consider them as just a variation in nature).

The first thing parents are told when a baby is born is whether the baby is a boy or a girl. In my case, doctors weren’t sure because I was born with physical attributes of both sexes as well as missing attributes of both (i.e. a genetic intersex condition). This means I am biologically not exclusively male or female but somewhere in between (or both). My doctor immediately referred me to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne who ran a number of tests including chromosomal karyotyping, hormonal analysis, a laparotomy and biopsies. They diagnosed me with an intersex condition called “Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome” and the treatment paradigm – likely elsewhere in the world – dictated that I was to be raised as a girl, any male physical attributes had to be surgically removed if possible, and I was not to be told the truth about my condition. This was a particularly difficult time for my parents.As a result of my diagnosis I was named Antoinette and raised as a girl. I went to Mount Saint Joseph’s Girls’ College in Altona and lived as a woman until I learned the truth about my condition and sought to find out who I would have been had the medical profession not sought to “normalise” me. I didn’t have a gender identity issue; I just wanted to be the person nature had intended. Frankly, after learning about my condition I felt like I was living a lie as a woman given I did not have a complete female reproductive system and was also born with some internal male organs.

After starting hormone replacement therapy to replace the hormones my testes would have produced had I not been castrated as a child, my body started to change. My voice deepened and I started to grow hair in places where I never had hair before. It started getting more difficult being “Antoinette” so I had my identity documentation “corrected” to state I was male. I didn’t particularly feel male because I didn’t have all the basic male attributes and the male upbringing, but it made public life easier. The funny thing is that my birth certificate is as wrong stating my sex as male, as it was when it classified me as female.

Years later I feel very comfortable having accepted my true nature. I am not male or female, but both. I am grateful for the years I lived as a woman and the insight and experiences it gave me. I am still “Antoinette” and have now also incorporated and accepted my male (“Anthony” or “Tony”) side. I feel whole. I’ll continue to live as Tony but I feel I am now at a point in my life where I can celebrate being different.
I am very touched that despite my condition the Altona and Hobsons Bay community has always accepted me. I think it shows our community is genuinely accepting and understanding of people who are different.

The following articles are just some examples of things I’ve done or articles written about me and my condition. My personal story has also been featured twice on 60 Minutes and I continue to advocate strongly for the rights of children born with intersex conditions and their families:

• “Choosing the Right Gender”, The Age (1 February 2005)

• “He’s the Man”, 60 Minutes (4 September 2005)

• “Human rights close to home for Tony Briffa”, Hobsons Bay Weekly (2 September 2009)

• “Dilemmas when gender is uncertain”, The Australian (19 March 2005)

• “Tony Briffa goes boldly as ‘other’”, The Hobsons Bay Weekly (7 July 2010)

• “Award-winning research gives hope to children of uncertain sex”, IBM Output (Winter 2007)

• Presentation by Tony Briffa at an Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW forum at the NSW Parliament House in 2003

Intersex Awareness Day October 26th

Apologies for missing this important date been busy working and probing so many other issues and stories.

Celebrate Intersex Awareness Day!

Intersex Awareness Day is the (inter)national day of grass-roots action to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital cosmetic surgeries on intersex children. We intend to create a "day of action" similar to Take Back the Night, National Coming Out Day, or International Women's Day in that it will focus on grass-roots activism organized by local activists.

To learn about intersex issues/experiences in general, please see any of the following websites:

Bodies Like Ours
Intersex Initiative
Intersex Society of North America
Frequently Asked Questions

What is intersex?
Intersex refers to a series of medical conditions in which a child's genetic sex (chromosomes) and phenotypic sex (genital appearance) do not match, or are somehow different from the "standard" male or female. About one in 2,000 babies are born visibly intersexed, while some others are detected later. The current medical protocol calls for the surgical "reconstruction" of these different but healthy bodies to make them "normal," but this practice has become increasingly controversial as adults who went through the treatment report being physically, emotionally, and sexually harmed by such procedures.

Beside stopping cosmetic genital surgeries, what are inter sex activists working toward?

Surgery is just part of a larger pattern of how intersex children are treated; it is also important to stop shame, secrecy and isolation that are socially and medically imposed on children born with intersex conditions under the theory that the child is better off it they didn't hear anything about it. Therefore, it's not enough to simply stop the surgery; we need to replace it with social and psychological support as well as open and honest communication.

What's so significant about October 26?

On October 26, 1996, intersex activists from intersex society of naughty america (carrying the sign "Hermaphrodites With Attitude") and our allies from Transexual Menace held the first public intersex demonstration in Boston, where American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. The action generated a lot of press coverage, and made it difficult for the medical community to continue to neglect our growing movement. That said, events related to Intersex Awareness Day can take place throughout October and does not necessarily have to be on the 26th.

It's great! How can I help?

First,join our email discussion list (we suggest the digest format if you want to keep the number of emails you receive under control). Then, look at our Get Involved section to see if there is already any IAD events scheduled for your area. If so, go and help them; if not, find a local organization that will sponsor the event--for example, try LGBT group in your city or college campus--and help them bring IAD to your city! We have suggestions for what activities to do, but what you will do is entirely up to you and your neighbors (and please tell us if you think of any great idea!)

Please note that Intersex Awareness Day is a loosely networked national initiative, and there is no central "headquarters." The form below will send an email to the maintainer of this web site, who is not necessarily "in charge," so to speak, of any activities that we are not directly involved. That said, we try to hook up local activists together so that we can all have a wonderful Intersex Awareness Day this year.

from Queers United

What is intersex?

Intersex refers to a series of medical conditions in which a child's genetic sex (chromosomes) and phenotypic sex (genital appearance) do not match, or are somehow different from the "standard" male or female. About one in 2,000 babies are born visibly intersexed, while some others are detected later. The current medical protocol calls for the surgical "reconstruction" of these different but healthy bodies to make them "normal," but this practice has become increasingly controversial as adults who went through the treatment report being physically, emotionally, and sexually harmed by such procedures.

Beside stopping cosmetic genital surgeries, what are intersex activists working toward?

Surgery is just part of a larger pattern of how intersex children are treated; it is also important to stop shame, secrecy and isolation that are socially and medically imposed on children born with intersex conditions under the theory that the child is better off it they didn't hear anything about it. Therefore, it's not enough to simply stop the surgery; we need to replace it with social and psychological support as well as open and honest communication.

What's so significant about October 26?

On October 26, 1996, intersex activists from Intersex Society of North America (carrying the sign "Hermaphrodites With Attitude") and our allies from Transexual Menace held the first public intersex demonstration in Boston, where American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. The action generated a lot of press coverage, and made it difficult for the medical community to continue to neglect our growing movement. That said, events related to Intersex Awareness Day can take place throughout October and does not necessarily have to be on the 26th.

There are actually various types, which makes no two Intersex individuals that same.
There are a variety of types of conditions related to Intersexuality.

Here are some of the most common ones:

Klinefelter Syndrome:
occurs in “males” who inherit an extra X chromosome from either their mother or father. These individuals appear to look like boys but after puberty undergo changes, such as lack of body hair, breast development and producing ejaculate without sperm.

Turner Syndrome:
includes individuals with a karyotype of XO. In this condition, female sex characteristics are presented but undeveloped compared to that of a typical female

XXY Syndrome:
a collection of traits caused by the possession, in a male, of an extra Y chromosome

Triple-X Syndrome:
a collection of traits caused by the possession, in a female, of three X chromosomes rather than two.

Gonadal Intersexuality:
the possession of both testicular and ovarian tissue in the same individual

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS):
the congenital absence of a functional androgen receptor, making the body unable to respond to androgens; female-looking genitals on a male-appeared body.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH):
a congenital defect of hormonal metabolism in the adrenal gland, causing the gland to secrete excessive levels of androgen; male-looking genitals on a female-appeared body.

Some birth Statistics of various Intersex types
Klinefelter 1 in every 500 - 1,000 births
Turner 1 in every 2,500 births
Triple-X 1 in every 1,000 births
AIS 1 in every 13,000 births
CAH 1 in every 13,000 births
[These statistics are approximations]

One would note the term 'defect' only applies when referencing a medically diagnosed notion of 'normal' functioning and is not the central theme of the intersex person.

INTERSEX is not a part of transgender because intersex is not about gender. Intersex is about anatomical differences in sex.

Below are some of the differences in the experience of trans and intersex individuals 

Trans:

• Self-identified gender does not match apparent sex at birth.
• Some human rights protection. In NSW this is limited to “recognised transgender” or people thought to be “transgendered” – 36B Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 in Australia.
• Can change cardinal documents, but usually requires irreversible surgeries usually involving sterilization and applicants must not be married.
• The right to marry someone of the opposite legal gender.
• A full and functional reproductive system.
• Physical differences limited to brain anatomy.
• Transsexual people have an effective medical protocol that produces a 98% effective outcome with long-term studies and follow-ups.
• The right to choose the time of surgery with extensive peer support.
• The ability to participate fully and in an informed manner in their surgical and hormonal options.
• Transsexual people generally have a strongly defined sense of gender – man or woman.
• Can compete in sport up to  and including Olympic level through established protocols.
• Many effective and extensive organizations worldwide, with some NGOs attracting government funding (e.g. NSW Gender Centre).

Intersex:

• Natural variation in biological sex does not match social expectations of normality.
• No recognition in human rights or other law. No inclusion in workplace programs like Pride in Diversity.
• If desired, can change cardinal documents in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland on evidence of intersex status, due to error on birth certificate.
• Physical differences affect the whole of the body including brain anatomy and especially sex anatomy.
• Apart from extremely rare circumstances, unable to reproduce because of physical differences in reproductive parts.
• No right to marriage as intersex. The right to marry someone of the opposite legal gender.
• A jumble of medical protocols with mixed outcomes that are poorly understood with nearly no long-term follow up.
• Very little research, and nearly no access to well-studied and appropriate medications.
• Insistence on inappropriate and harmful medication when individuals do not conform with diagnosis expectations.
• Administration of harmful drugs to pregnant women in an effort to prevent intersex births with a possible outcome of brain damage to the unborn.
• Only some medication available through PBS.
• Enforced surgery with little information available, without peer support and with scant knowledge in respect of outcomes.
• Often surgery is conducted without consent.
• Protocols for competition in sport are just being established, due to the treatment of Caster Semenya.
• Weak sense of gender – man or woman.
• Very few intersex organizations worldwide, with none receiving any government funding. There is OII in Australia 

Peace and tolerance

H

Being Accountable to the Invisible Community: A Challenge for Intersex Activists and Allies

by Emi Koyama, Intersex Initiative

Intersex conditions are relatively rare, but not that rare. To give you an idea, there we e about 8,000 intersex people living in the state of Florida alone during the 2000 Presidenti l Election, which means that intersex people could have tipped the election to Al Gore if th y voted in a block! (To which my cleve friend said, "but if intersex people were voting in a block, they will find a way to disqualify intersex votes.")

Of course, there has never been an intersex voting block, or even an intersex political action committee. Indeed, despite the fact that there are tens of thousands of intersex people in this country, only a small number of people have publicly come out as "intersex." Where are the rest of intersex people?

Some do not know that they have an intersex condition, either because they have not been properly diagnosed or have not been told by their doctors and parents about their condition. Some do know about the condition that they have, but do not know that their condition may be considered part of intersex. Some reject the term "intersex" because of its negative association with "hermaphrodite" and other freaky imagery. For many, intersex is a site of pervasive physical and sexual violation, which they do not want to re-visit at all. Some wish to push away intersex as something that has happened in the past. Some are struggling hard just to stay alive. Some feel isolated and alienated by everyone around them, and do not feel that it is possible to "come out."

When we talk about intersex, we are talking about a lifelong history of shame, secrecy and isolation that are imposed on children who were born with slightly different bodies. We are talking about childhood sexual trauma, dirty family secret, repeated stripping in examination rooms, and the knowledge that whatever body you were born with was defective on arrival. It is not surprising that most people born with intersex conditions do not identify as "intersex" either publicly or privately.

As a result, the demographics of the few intersex activists who "come out" is skewed to be: mostly white, often college-educated, often LGBT or genderqueer (because queer people are already familiar with the process of coming out and doing activism, and also because they are more willing to go outside of standard sex/gender categories). This group, however, does not necessarily represent the rest of the people who are born with intersex conditions.

I personally do not consider "intersex" to be part of my identity. I feel that intersex is something that was done to me, not who I am. Nonetheless I am publicly "out" as an intersex activist, because I feel that taking such position is useful politically. Once people recognize me as an intersex activist, I can then start talking about what I actually feel about the label.

This creates a problem for the people who want to become allies to the intersex movement. If the few "out" intersex activists do not represent the rest, where should allies draw guidance as to what to do? How can allies act responsibly to the people who do not speak out?

As a relatively well-known intersex activist, I have come in contact with many people with intersex conditions who are not otherwise "out" as intersex or do not identify as intersex. Some of these people participate in condition-specific (such as CAH and AIS) support groups, while others are completely isolated. Even with the insight coming from these meetings, I am still unsure sometimes if certain things I say or do is actually in the best interest of intersex people as a whole.

There are some things that I am absolutely certain, such as that clitoral genitoplasty and vaginoplasty on a child is a bad idea. This is supported by many stories I have heard as well as the latest medical researches. But on other topics, such as when there was a discussion about whether or not to include "intersex" in PFLAG, I have had to make a judgment call based on everything I know about the situation and my own personal conviction.

As an ally, you will not get to hear from 99% of the people you are working to advocate for. But you are still accountable to them, as I am to my less vocal peers. Your best guide, aside from what "out" intersex activists will tell you, is your common sense.

Common sense should tell you that intersex people are regular people just like everyone else. Some are male, some are female, and there are few who explore alternative gender categoriesNjust like the non-intersex population. Some are gay or lesbian, some are bisexual, and some are straight. It makes no sense to assume that someone is gay or transgender because s/he is intersex, because a) there are gays and transgender people who aren't intersex, and b) there are intersex people who are not gay or transgender.

Common sense should tell you that whether or not one's genitalia matches her or his gender identity is not the only thing that matters. The problem with the intersex surgery is that it's harmful and in violation of the child's right to self-determination. The risk of assigning the "wrong gender" is not the only argument against thissurgery, nor is it the biggest one.

Common sense should tell you that using intersex babies to argue for some abstract theory or someone else's agenda, such as the social acceptance of a "third gender," is wrong. Most intersex people live happily as women or men just like everyone else, although they may be unhappy about the shame, secrecy and isolation that were imposed on them through medicine. If we were to advocate for the social acceptance of "third gender," that should be the responsibility of adults, whether intersex or not, rather than that of intersex children.

This is just the beginning. Use your common sense and focus on how to improve the lives of people with intersex conditions now and in the future. Ask us questions, but sometimes be willing to question the answers coming from the few "out" intersex activists including myself.

Intersex Awareness Day - Oct 26th

Apologies for missing this important date been busy working and probing so many other issues and stories.

Celebrate Intersex Awareness Day!

Intersex Awareness Day is the (inter)national day of grass-roots action to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital cosmetic surgeries on intersex children. We intend to create a "day of action" similar to Take Back the Night, National Coming Out Day, or International Women's Day in that it will focus on grass-roots activism organized by local activists.

To learn about intersex issues/experiences in general, please see any of the following websites:

Bodies Like Ours
Intersex Initiative
Intersex Society of North America
Frequently Asked Questions

What is intersex?
Intersex refers to a series of medical conditions in which a child's genetic sex (chromosomes) and phenotypic sex (genital appearance) do not match, or are somehow different from the "standard" male or female. About one in 2,000 babies are born visibly intersexed, while some others are detected later. The current medical protocol calls for the surgical "reconstruction" of these different but healthy bodies to make them "normal," but this practice has become increasingly controversial as adults who went through the treatment report being physically, emotionally, and sexually harmed by such procedures.

Beside stopping cosmetic genital surgeries, what are inter sex activists working toward?
Surgery is just part of a larger pattern of how intersex children are treated; it is also important to stop shame, secrecy and isolation that are socially and medically imposed on children born with intersex conditions under the theory that the child is better off it they didn't hear anything about it. Therefore, it's not enough to simply stop the surgery; we need to replace it with social and psychological support as well as open and honest communication.

What's so significant about October 26?

On October 26, 1996, intersex activists from intersex society of naughty america (carrying the sign "Hermaphrodites With Attitude") and our allies from Transexual Menace held the first public intersex demonstration in Boston, where American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. The action generated a lot of press coverage, and made it difficult for the medical community to continue to neglect our growing movement. That said, events related to Intersex Awareness Day can take place throughout October and does not necessarily have to be on the 26th.

It's great! How can I help?
First,join our email discussion list (we suggest the digest format if you want to keep the number of emails you receive under control). Then, look at our Get Involved section to see if there is already any IAD events scheduled for your area. If so, go and help them; if not, find a local organization that will sponsor the event--for example, try LGBT group in your city or college campus--and help them bring IAD to your city! We have suggestions for what activities to do, but what you will do is entirely up to you and your neighbors (and please tell us if you think of any great idea!)

Please note that Intersex Awareness Day is a loosely networked national initiative, and there is no central "headquarters." The form below will send an email to the maintainer of this web site, who is not necessarily "in charge," so to speak, of any activities that we are not directly involved. That said, we try to hook up local activists together so that we can all have a wonderful Intersex Awareness Day this year.

from Queers United

What is intersex?
Intersex refers to a series of medical conditions in which a child's genetic sex (chromosomes) and phenotypic sex (genital appearance) do not match, or are somehow different from the "standard" male or female. About one in 2,000 babies are born visibly intersexed, while some others are detected later. The current medical protocol calls for the surgical "reconstruction" of these different but healthy bodies to make them "normal," but this practice has become increasingly controversial as adults who went through the treatment report being physically, emotionally, and sexually harmed by such procedures.

Beside stopping cosmetic genital surgeries, what are intersex activists working toward?
Surgery is just part of a larger pattern of how intersex children are treated; it is also important to stop shame, secrecy and isolation that are socially and medically imposed on children born with intersex conditions under the theory that the child is better off it they didn't hear anything about it. Therefore, it's not enough to simply stop the surgery; we need to replace it with social and psychological support as well as open and honest communication.

What's so significant about October 26?
On October 26, 1996, intersex activists from Intersex Society of North America (carrying the sign "Hermaphrodites With Attitude") and our allies from Transexual Menace held the first public intersex demonstration in Boston, where American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. The action generated a lot of press coverage, and made it difficult for the medical community to continue to neglect our growing movement. That said, events related to Intersex Awareness Day can take place throughout October and does not necessarily have to be on the 26th.

Peace and tolerance

H