Intersex Awareness Day debate at the University of Sydney

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Event header showing the intersex flag, a rainbow circle, and the University of Sydney logotype
On 27 October, the University of Sydney hosted a panel to mark Intersex Awareness Day featuring Higher Education staff and students with intersex variations.


 
Speakers were Morgan Carpenter, Dr Agli Zavros-Orr and Gabriel Filpi. The event was moderated by Jack Crane, Disability Services Officer in Student Support Services. We thank the University of Sydney and all the participants for holding this webinar.

Morgan Carpenter:

Morgan is a bioethicist, advocate, and PhD candidate at Sydney Health Ethics. An intersex man, he’s a co-executive director of Intersex Human Rights Australia, a signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10, and creator of the intersex flag. Current roles include work for the World Health Organization, and ACT government, and a reference or expert group member for an Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry on protecting the human rights of people born with variations of sex characteristics in the context of medical interventions, for the ABS, NSW Health, and the EU-funded Intersex: New Interdisciplinary Approaches (INIA) research network.

Dr Agli Zavros-Orr:

Agli is an academic, in the field of Education, with two decades of experience working in the Higher Education sector. They draw on queer feminist theory, post-structural, post-colonial and post-humanist perspectives – in their research on Efficacy, Agency, Identity, Intersectionality and matters relating to Diversity and Inclusion. Agli is the founder of Diversitywise and undertakes advocacy and activist role as a community member of the Victorian Intersex Expert Advisory Group (IEAG). Agli is the chair for Intersex Human Right Australia (IHRA) and Victorian Representative for Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA). Their current work is focused on the needs of students with an Intersex Variation in Education.

Gabriel Filpi:

Gabriel is an intersex and transgender advocate, educator and young professional who is employed through Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT (SHFPACT) as the Project Officer for the ACT Safe and Inclusive Schools (SAIS) Initiative. He also works with intersex and transgender communities through his work at A Gender Agenda (AGA). He has strong professional, personal and academic interests in healthcare experiences, health education and critical medical anthropology. Gabriel has spoken on a range of panels and presented to the general public, students, medical professionals and community members on issues faced by intersex and transgender Australians. Gabriel also sits as an intersex community representative on the ACT LGBTIQ+ Ministerial Advisory Council.

The recent debate with paediatric surgeons referred to in this webinar is: Hutson, John, Sonia Grover, Clare Delany, and Morgan Carpenter. 2020. ‘Intersexion: The Birth of Ambiguity’. Presented at the Melbourne Medical Student Conference 2020, University of Melbourne, June 23. https://ihra.org.au/36471/intersexion-mdscx-2020/.