Intersex Human Rights Australia

According to recent Australian research, registered “LGBTIQ+ organisations receive just 5 cents out of every $100 received by Australian charities”, and almost half of all LGBTIQ+ charities in Australia last year had to operate on less than $10,000. With that resourcing, a charity is unable to pay staff, relies on volunteers, and often can’t invest into the resources that their communities desperately need.

Resourcing for intersex-led and intersex-focused work is a fraction of that fraction. According to a 2022 report by the Global Philanthropy Project, funding focused on intersex populations outside the US received only 3% of global LGBTI funding in the period 2019-2020.

Despite these profound and systemic challenges, this last year has been landmark for IHRA. We grew from the 2-3 part-time positions we’ve had since late 2016 to 5-6 part time staff from late 2022. And we’ve seen new legislative protections pass in the ACT Parliament. We’ve started offering the new InterLink psychosocial support program, to address deep unmet needs in our community and foster connections for individuals and family members. We’re engaging with an all-time high number of governments and institutions, and helping with the development and implementation of new resources and statistical standards.

We’ve achieved this with a combination of foreign and local philanthropic funding, and pilot funding to deliver new services. We have no long-term income sources. We remain the only staffed intersex community controlled organisation in Australia focused on the health and human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in Australia. We continually have to make difficult choices about where to invest our time.

The fact is that IHRA has always done a lot with a little. We have always been at the cutting edge of protecting intersex rights. This year marks the ten year anniversary of the intersex flag, the Senate committee report into the ‘Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia’, as well as the Malta Declaration. But we need your help to fully realise our vision to fulfil the human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics across Australia.

Give Out Day is one of the best ways you can maximise the potential of your donation dollars in giving to LBGTIQA+ charities, including IHRA. This October 19th, GiveOUT will match your donation dollar for dollar. Every little bit we get goes towards our community. Goes towards real action. Puts us where we need to be to represent our community. Contributes to every victory.

Check out our Give Out donation page here. If you would like to sign up as a champion of the intersex community to help us raise more money, you can do so through the same link. In the lead up to intersex awareness day, you can make a difference.