Intersex Human Rights Australia

Do you identify as intersex and you’re not a member of OII Australia or AISSGA? Do you think that intersex is part of the trans umbrella? Brain intersex?

Well, where were you when it came to the Senate Inquiry on involuntary and coerced sterilisation? Where were you when it came to intersex human rights and Australia’s anti-discrimination bills?

These are, just for the sake of clarity, the two most significant issues for intersex people in Australia. Period.

We know that some people regard intersex as a chosen identity, and self-describe as intersex from time to time. But intersex people see intersex status primarily as a matter of biology, not identity.

Intersex people have the same range of gender identities that non-intersex people have. It is a misconception to think of intersex as a matter of identity politics. This is particularly damaging when our bodies remain contested, the site of nonconsensual surgical and hormonal intervention. And when intersex people remain unprotected from discrimination – until current legislation passes.

Thankfully, the federal government has gotten its head around this for the first time, and we’re included in the Sex discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Bill for the first time. This work, still in progress, has been brought about by action, and collaboration.

OII Australia firmly believes in alliances with trans, LGBTI, queer, and also disability and other organisations; by working together we can be stronger. Collaborations and community are based on genuine inclusion and speaking from a place of knowledge and understanding. They are based on organisations knowing their limitations – and we fully recognise that we have them too. We don’t claim to speak on trans issues, or disability; they are not our area of expertise. We are always happy to work with and support organisations that have that expertise.

If you are an intersex-identified activist on trans issues, or you are a member of a “trans and intersex” or “sex and/or gender diverse” health or activist organisation, then where did you or your organisation stand on the sterilisation and anti-discrimination inquiries? Submissions to inquiries on both issues are public.

If you or your organisation claim intersex as an identity, or you claim to speak for intersex or “SGD”, and you didn’t make a submission, then that is appropriation and tokenism. It’s time to stop.

(For overseas audiences, the title of this piece draws upon an eponymous Australian tourism campaign.)

Download OII Australia submissions

• Australian Senate committee report on the Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia (25 October 2013)
• First cross-party speeches on intersex health in the Australian Senate (25 March 2014)
• Submission on the medical “normalisation” of intersex people, including infants, children and adolescents – concluding submission to a Senate Inquiry on involuntary or coerced sterilisation (12 September 2013)
• About our fifth, concluding, submission to the Inquiry
• Our fifth submission, dated 29 August 2013 (PDF) a concluding submission, taking into account recent developments
• About our fourth submission a response to the submission by the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group, and new data from the Council of Europe
• Fourth submission, dated 30 June 2013 (PDF)
• About our third submission focusing on the rationales for involuntary surgery on intersex infants, and comparisons with Female Genital Mutilation; also presenting information on the M.C. legal case in the US and the 2005 City of San Francisco human rights investigation
• Third submission, dated 3 June 2013 (PDF)
• On our second submission which focused on a case detailed by the Chief Justice of the Family Court, but also the new Victorian Health Department report, and the Senate’s report on the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill
• Second submission, dated 8 March 2013 (PDF)
• About our first submission
• First OII Australia submission, dated 15 February 2013 (PDF)

Download AISSGA and National LGBTI Health Alliance submissions

• AISSGA submission, dated 12 March 2013 (PDF)
• Third National LGBTI Health Alliance submission, dated 9 July 2013 (PDF)
• Second National LGBTI Health Alliance submission, dated 15 April 2013 (PDF)
• First National LGBTI Health Alliance submission, dated 12 March 2013 (PDF)

Documents tabled by OII Australia

• Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics, ‘On the management of differences of sex development’ (PDF)
• Anne Tamar-Mattis (Advocates for Informed Choice), ‘Report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Medical Treatment of People with Intersex Conditions as a Human Rights Violation’ (PDF)
• Victoria, Department of Health, ‘Decision-making principles for the care of infants, children and adolescents with intersex conditions’ (PDF)
• OII Australia, ‘Response to Victorian Health Department framework document’ (PDF)
• National LGBTI Health Alliance policy statement on the Victorian Department of Health approach to intersex young people (PDF)
• City and County of San Francisco, Report of a 2005 Human Rights Investigation into the medical “normalization” of intersex people (PDF)

More information

• All submissions to the Senate Inquiry on involuntary sterilisation
• Transcript details of a public hearing of the Senate Inquiry on involuntary sterilisation, with OII Australia, AISSGA and the National LGBTI Health Alliance, 3 April 2013
• Opening statement at the Senate hearing on involuntary or coerced sterilisation, 29 March 2013
• Update on the Senate Inquiry, 13 July 2013
• Press coverage of the intersex aspects of the Senate Inquiry, by The Age newspaper, 20 June 2013