We welcome publication of a new Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Standard by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This replaces an earlier Sex and Gender Standard. The new Standard facilitates the meaningful and respectful collection of data on people with intersex variations (‘variations of sex characteristics’).
Intersex Human Rights Australia is keen to receive expressions of interest in becoming a member of our board. Applications need to be received no later than 15 December 2020. Applications will be reviewed by the Executive Directors and presented to a Board Meeting for consideration in early 2021.
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.
This Intersex Awareness Day, and in collaboration with community partners, we are delighted to launch new resources and programs to help ensure active allyship, affirmative healthcare and accountable practices. We also have recommendations for videos and other resources to share. We’ll update this page during the day, and watch out for social media hashtags like…
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Austria has made a statement on behalf of countries from every region of the world, calling on the Human Rights Council to address human rights violations and abuses against intersex persons. Australia and New Zealand are co-signatories.
IHRA has made a formal submission to the New South Wales Parliament’s Joint Select Committee inquiry into the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020, introduced by Mark Latham MLC.
On 23 June, the annual Melbourne Medical Student Conference video recorded this debate on the medical treatment of people with intersex variations with two paediatric surgeons and two bioethicists, including our co-executive director and bioethicist Morgan Carpenter. Participants also included Professors John Hutson, Sonia Grover and Clare Delany of the University of Melbourne and Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.
The side event, taking place during the 44th session of the Human Rights Council, seeks to discuss human rights violations against intersex persons, unpack the mechanisms that lead to discrimination and violence of intersex persons in all spheres of life – including in sports, and discuss possible ways forward towards better and more specific protections on persons with diverse sex characteristics in the international human rights framework.
IHRA welcomes the report of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute on “legal recognition of sex and gender”. In particular, we warmly welcome recommendations in relation to medical procedures on children with intersex variations.
Today we are 10! Intersex Human Rights Australia Ltd was formally incorporated as a not-for-profit company on 6 May 2010, under the name OII Australia. Today we celebrate 10 years of advocacy and work to ensure that the human rights and health of people with intersex variations are recognised and respected.
On 2 May, Steph Lum (editor of the YOUth&I magazine) performed the poem Graduation Day as part of Equality Australia’s Queer Love In. The event was an afternoon of performance to support LGBTI artists who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All populations that suffer health inequalities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and people with intersex variations are no exception.