Debate about legal gender recognition in Western Australia has thankfully shifted the debate in Australia from one focused on the recognition of non-binary gender categories to one that questions the necessity of legal registration of sex and gender at all.
Over recent years we’ve commented on appropriation of intersex by multiple different groups of gender diverse people, including based on the harmful idea that being intersex ‘messes with the system‘, the harmful idea that being transgender is a form of ‘brain intersex‘, and the harmful idea that intersex is a non-binary gender. We know these…
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We are pleased to share our submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission on protecting the human rights of people born with variations in sex characteristics in the context of medical interventions. It is kindly endorsed by the AIS Support Group Australia, Disabled People’s Organisations Australia, LGBTI Legal Service and People with Disability Australia.
Tony Briffa has written on being intersex and Maltese Australian in the book Living and Loving in Diversity: An anthology of Australian multicultural queer adventures (chief editor Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Wakefield Press). The book was launched at the 2018 Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council conference, “Living Loving Diversity”, and an edited extract has been published by Archer…
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Update: The book chapter is now available freely via the author’s website We are pleased to share a current and recent peer-reviewed journal article by co-executive director Morgan Carpenter, on intersex health and human rights, and an associated book chapter. In an open access peer-reviewed journal article and a book chapter, Morgan describes contradictions where…
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In a new joint paper in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, Katrina Karkazis and Morgan Carpenter detail the choices and harms involved in unnecessary regulations affecting the participation of some women with intersex variations in elite sport. In April 2018, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) released new regulations placing a ceiling on women…
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This open access paper published by Harvard’s Health and Human Rights Journal highlights how international clinical classifications facilitate or specify practices that violate the human rights of intersex people. It also provides some analysis of a recent Family Court case, analysed from a slightly different perspective to recent papers in Bioethical Inquiry.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has launched a major project to consult on protecting the human rights of people born with variations in sex characteristics in the context of medical interventions. The project is being assisted by an expert reference group that includes directors of IHRA, AISSGA and representatives of other intersex/parent-led organisations, disability and…
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Morgan Carpenter, for IHRA (then OIIAU), and Bonnie Hart, for the AISSGA, made a joint letter of submission in March to the Medical Board of Australia on proposed “Draft revised guidelines Sexual boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship”.
At present, a minority of Australian have digital health records, and such records are not used routinely. As the number of people with digital records increases, it is likely that they will increasingly be used as a way of documenting and tracking our health. The implementation of the government’s national My Health Records scheme for…
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IHRA has made a submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the sex and gender standards in relation to the 2021 Census, and on collecting information on people with intersex variations.
IHRA has made a Shadow Report submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), on the situation of intersex people in Australia. This submission builds upon recent submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission and the UN Human Rights Committee.
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