Intersex News around the world – Quarter 1-2024

March 6, 2024
The University of Sydney with Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA), Canberra Health Services, University of Technology Sydney, and academic and community research partners, has been awarded a new grant to improve the health and well-being of people with intersex variations (also termed innate variations of sex characteristics (IVSCs), or differences of sex development). The research will seek to transform models of care to address stigma and misconceptions, support families, and help individuals determine and express their values and preferences.
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March 28, 2024
Social Sciences Journal has published a peer-reviewed perspective on the context and goals of the intersex movement in Australia, by Dr Morgan Carpenter. This paper explores the fight for human rights by the Australian intersex community, who are pushing for changes in medical practices and recognition of their needs.
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March 27, 2024
The University of New South Wales has launched a new centre, namely Center for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine to address gender bias in health and medicine. This new center will push for a broader approach to clinical trials.
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February 2, 2024
From 29 April 2024, Queensland’s discrimination laws will be updated to provide stronger protections for trans, gender diverse and intersex people. The changes mean that people who identify as non-binary or gender diverse will now be protected from discrimination and vilification, and that the protections for intersex people will be strengthened.
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January 5, 2024
The Intersex community has started a campaign aimed at fighting stigma among its members in sporting activities. Led by Chris Kach Mulusa, an intersex player for the Kenya Police Bullets football team, the community said that discrimination was hindering their progress in sports and other spheres of life adding that the victims were born as intersex persons.
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February 22, 2024
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ+) student community in Zimbabwe is living in fear after the government threatened organizations offering scholarships to such students with “appropriate measures to enforce national laws and to protect and defend national values” – a development that activists believe may affect the access to higher education of this group.
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March 5, 2024
In a one-day dialogue to discuss the state of intersex health and well-being in South Africa, Deputy Minister John Jeffrey highlighted the significance of South Africa’s groundbreaking inclusion of intersex anti-discrimination law, and further emphasized the need for legal recognition of intersex individuals’ identities based on self-determination, calling for a comprehensive approach that combines robust laws with awareness-raising initiatives
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March 12, 2024
A roundtable organized in Kinshasa, Republic of Congo on the issue of intersex individuals focused on the theme: “towards better consideration of variations in sexual characteristics. During this meeting, the media was called to raise awareness of the issues faced by intersex people.
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February 20, 2024
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) released a report on Tuesday looking into the community’s disparities in digital access, claiming it is the first to conduct a global review of the digital divide for the LGBTI community. Those in the community who suffer from the digital divide, which is unequal access to laptops and devices that connect to the Internet, could not access important information such as health data nor a supportive online community, the study found.
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March 4, 2024
In a survey of almost 200 scientists at UK universities published by the Telegraph and Censuswide, 58% said they believe sex is binary, except in rare instances involving ​intersex individuals. “To me, this just means that at least 29% of the academics that filled out this questionnaire do not understand the biological concept of sex, and at least 22% of them do not know what gender means,” Wolfgang Goymann, professor for behavioral biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, told the Telegraph.
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March 15, 2024
The President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović met with a delegation from the Association for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Trans, Intersex and Gender Variant Persons (TIGV) KolekTIRV. The delegation included Executive Coordinator Diana Avdić and Advocacy Team Coordinator Nike Doktor.
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March 22, 2024
During a general debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Humanists International made a statement and highlighted the “horrifying levels of discrimination, stigma, and violence” that intersex persons can face. The statement gave explicit support for a draft UN Human Rights Council Resolution “Combating Discrimination, Violence, and Harmful Practices against Intersex Persons,” which was passed in early April.
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February 15, 2024
Sydney Madsen, an intersex woman who lives in Pocatello spoke out about the Idaho bill, saying this was a bill that hinders all Idahoans’ access to health care because it makes direct threats toward health care providers with felony charges for providing any sort of health care that they deem inadequate, especially for those born with sexual differences or those who are born intersex.”
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February 15, 2024
West Virginia’s House of Delegates has passed a bill banning nonbinary and intersex designations on state birth certificates, a Republican-sponsored measure that half the chamber’s Democrats also supported. If passes the Senate and is signed into law, it would officially ban the term “nonbinary” from appearing on West Virginian birth certificates, and a child’s sex at birth would be restricted only to “male” or “female.”
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February 15, 2024
Alabama lawmakers are advancing legislation that would strictly define who is considered female and male based on their reproductive systems. People believe the move could erode the rights of transgender and intersex people in the state.
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February 22, 2024
The New Jersey Legislature joined a handful of states, including Illinois, California and Massachusetts, in enacting statutory protections and rights for LGBTQI and HIV+ residents of long-term care facilities with the passage of an LGBTQI and HIV+ long-term care residents “Bill of Rights” in August 2021.
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