The Intersex and Family Support Network serves the families of intersex people, parents and babies, children, teenagers, and particularly intersex adults.
The Intersex and Family Support Network – Jacob(y) – Rede de Apoio à Pessoa Intersexo e Família – Jacob(y) – was created after Thais Emilia; mother of an intersex baby named Jacob, who needed to be brought to São Paulo to address a congenital heart problem, however, the child ended up dying. With the network, Thais sought out core teams of caregivers (doctors and psychologists) who had in common the defense and promotion of the physical and psychological integrity of intersex babies. From this network, it was possible to accept the demands of intersex people who were unaware of their access rights to health. Some request assistance because they had sequelae from non-consensual genital surgeries they suffered in the past, or even because they lived with rare diseases that had to come to centers with more health equipment. Most of them are sent to São Paulo (Brazil) to continue treatments with specialists. The visits were made in person or remotely, especially in the last seven months due to the pandemic. This network has a partnership with ABRAI and UNIFESP, especially psychologist Dr. Mariana Telles Silveira, endocrinologist Dr. Magnus R. Dias da Silva and pediatric surgeon Dr. Mila Torii.
Potencia intersex wants to build an organization that is able to educate society with the goal of raising awareness about the lived experience of our community, to do consciousness-raising work about the violation of human rights of intersex people, and mobilize society so that they may actively participate in the topic of bodily autonomy, physical and mental integrity, and the right for intersex people to their truth.
The group was formed within the framework of the 34th Multinational Gathering of Women and Dissidences (34° Encuentro Plurinacional de Mujeres y Disidencias) which took place in La Plata in 2019, during the “Intersexuality Workshop.” The development of this space was the result of a process that organizers began remotely through social media, and it was developed as a way to respond to certain needs that emerged in informal chats between members. All the organizers expressed the desire to work as a team, linking our individual efforts through shared projects, so that they could push and have more impact with their work, each of them from their own place of residency. During the Second Intersex Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean they consolidated their team and gave their activist group a name. They want to build an organization that is able to educate society with the goal of raising awareness about the lived experience of our community, to do consciousness-raising work about the violation of human rights of intersex people, and mobilize society so that they may actively participate in the topic of bodily autonomy, physical and mental integrity, and the right for intersex people to their truth.
Intersexesiste was formed in 2016 as a collaboration between intersex organizer Claudia Balsamo (AISIA; Agedo; IntersexEsiste) and academic allies (Daniela Crocetti and later Marta Prandelli) with the primary goals of addressing the significant lack of non-medically driven information on intersex in Italian and creating bridges between different intersex realities (including patient associations).
Intersexesiste was formed in 2016 as a collaboration between intersex organizer Claudia Balsamo (AISIA; Agedo; IntersexEsiste) and academic allies (Daniela Crocetti and later Marta Prandelli) with the primary goals of addressing the significant lack of non-medically driven information on intersex in Italian and creating bridges between different intersex realities (including patient associations).
They developed two strategies: an online platform that would provide easily understandable non-stigmatizing information on intersex experience and rights issues; and a series of interactive workshops oriented at a mix of educator and medical students and professionals (other intersex organizers participated in giving these workshops, even if not formally part of the group). The online platform included links to all Italian intersex activist groups and variation specific associations that gave us their permission to list them. In the course of 2019 and 2020, their mission has expanded in the arena of creating bridges between intersex realities, and fostering dialogue in intersex only spaces. This activity was spearheaded by the entrance of a new lead intersex member, Manuela Falzone (AISIA; IntersexEsiste; Intersex Italia FB; Intersex/dsd Italia FB) who also had experience with the patient association AISIA but wanted to expand her political reach. Manuela helped moderate two intersex only closed FB groups “intersex italia’ and ‘intersex/dsd italia’, and is interested in creating productive collaboration between different intersex realities and voices. The overall mission is to promote accurate non-stigmatizing information about intersex in Italian, in this manner also promoting bodily integrity and autonomous decision-making for intersex people in medical settings and institutions. This has taken many forms in order to reach both the general public and specialist professionals such as teachers and health care professions that have significant impacts on intersex lives. With the name ‘IntersexEsiste’ they hope to affirm the idea that if more people learn what intersex is, is a bodily variation that shouldn’t imply shame or modification, the social pressure on medics and families to modify children’s bodies will decrease. They formed the group with the intent to combine the experience of the intersex people with the knowledge of academic allies who have conducted respectful and agency-based work in the intersex field.
The overall mission of ISIO Finland is to end stigma and discrimination and ensure intersex people’s access to their fundamental and human rights.
Intersex People’s Human Rights – ISIO Finland was founded in January 2020. Awareness-raising, education and information-sharing on intersex people’s human rights is very topical in Finland. ISIO Finland was founded to ensure that intersex people’s voice is being heard and the human rights of intersex people are being ensured at this critical moment.
The overall mission of ISIO Finland is to end stigma and discrimination and ensure intersex people’s access to their fundamental and human rights. To achieve this goal the organisation raises awareness, networks and co-operates with relevant stakeholders and shares information and provides expertise to law and policy drafting on the human rights situation of intersex people in Finland.
The mission of Intersex-Nigeria is to create awareness about intersex through public education and social engagements, build a community space for intersex persons to co-habit, provide psychological and well-being support for intersex persons in Nigeria, and advocate for intersex rights in Nigeria.
Intersex-Nigeria was founded on 25th November, 2019. The intersex-led organization was founded by Obioma Chukwuike, an intersex person from Nigeria who lived the pain and stigmatization meted on them for being intersex. The ugly situations of intersex population in Nigeria includes intersex genital mutation on intersex babies, violent abuse and killings of intersex persons, misogyny against intersex women, discrimination and lack of understanding of what intersex means.
Organizers decided to form the first intersex-led organization in Nigeria to create public awareness of intersex understanding, create visibility and community building for intersex persons and advocate for the rights of intersex persons which includes; rights to bodily integrity, ending stigma and discrimination, creating visibility, ending the killing of intersex babies due to cultural beliefs and ending medical intervention surgeries on intersex babies.
The mission of the group is to create awareness about intersex through public education and social engagements, build a community space for intersex persons to co-habit, provide psychological and well-being support for intersex persons in Nigeria, and advocate for intersex rights in Nigeria.
Intersex Greece wants to spread the word widely, create visibility and protect intersex people’s rights at any age and field of life in Greece.
Intersex Greece is a nationwide collective of intersex adults, parents of intersex children, supportive individuals and related professionals located in Greece. Intersex Greece has at its helm a coordinating team of adult intersex individuals and parents of intersex children, being framed by inclusive and valuable partners. Aims and objectives of our team are to provide specialized, peer-to-peer support to intersex people and their families, to provide support, training and information on all issues related to the natural diversity of sex characteristics (intersex physiology), while working for visibility and intersex community building, raising awareness, promoting and safeguarding the rights of intersex people in our country, and – consequently – abroad.
Overall, we want to create/ spread awareness, reliable knowledge and social inclusion for the intersex physiology, so to be legally recognized by the Greek State and laws for what it really is: a natural state of human beings, that should be having equal rights with men/women. Today in our country – and not only here – due to gender norms and stereotypes, natural intersex physiology is still treated by a significant portion of the medical world and the public as a “pathology that needs to be medically normalized.” However, the personal testimonies and life-experiences of intersex people in Greece and in the world, testify, in multiple ways, that in most cases these unnecessary medical interventions had traumatic and unpleasant consequences on their bodies and psyche. In July 2022 (after months of cooperating with the Greek Ministry of Health), Intersex Greece accomplished one of its most important statutory goals: the legal protection of intersex children from the abusive “normalization” procedures that had been harassing and stigmatizing them, often for life. The Articles 17 to 20 (PART C – CHANGE OF SEX CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERSEX CHILDREN) in Law 4958/2022 (Official Gazette A 142 – 21.07. 2022) of the bill on “Reforms in medically assisted reproduction” now prohibit unnecessary medical operations and procedures that used to be carried out on intersex children under 15 years of age with a purpose of changing their sex characteristics for social and/or aesthetic reasons. The present law may not solve all the rights’ violations suffered by intersex persons in Greece, but it is an excellent starting point to ensure the well-being and the free development of intersex children, for it recognizes their right to bodily integrity, thus confirming that Intersex Rights are Human Rights. Our struggles continue…
Inter Dayanışma voluntarily works for advocacy among LGBTI+ related events.
The intersex rights started to be discussed in Turkey among transgender movement around 2010-2011. A transgender organizer Ali Gül, lost to cancer since then, was one of the initiators. Due to the lack of human resources, the intersex movement cannot be strengthen itself and it is still supported by LGBTI+ organizations. The three organizers voluntarily work for advocacy among LGBTI+ related events. Although there are more intersex people that they know, those people are working as civil servant or they are not ready to come out to public; therefore, they are not that active in the field. The overall mission of the group is to raise awareness on intersex rights.
Intersex Advocate Trust Zimbabwe was formed in 2016 to respond to the psycho social needs of all intersex persons (including intersex children and their parents, and gender non-conforming adults).
The organisation was formed in 2016 to respond to the psycho social needs of all intersex persons (including intersex children and their parents, and gender non-conforming adults). Intersex children face abandonment at birth, corrective sex assignment at birth, backlash against gender non-conformity including in gender expression. Biological essentialism has led to mutilation of some intersex children’s genitalia to fall into an assigned sex either male or female in an absolute binary. Mysticism around intersex births is still a culture barrier to visibility of intersex persons. As time goes on, the children grow entering in adolescence and the nature of their psycho social needs also evolves. Sexual Reproductive Health issues start coming up and the parents and caregivers struggle with responding to the questions posed to them. The service center is inundated with the cries for help from desperate parents as the genitalia of the child becomes an issue. Intersex Advocate Trust Zimbabwe intends to rollout a vertical and horizontal scale up of it’s current activities in order to increase the courage and impact of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights. The mission of Intersex Advocate Trust Zimbabwe IAZ is to create a society that is non-discriminating to sexuality and human rights and needs. It serves as an advocate of sexual inequalities.
iCon UK represents the interests of people born with intersex traits/variations of sex characteristics (VSC) / diverse or differences in sex development (DSD), hereafter intersex* people and their communities.
Interconnected UK (iCon UK) was officially registered as a charity in January 2020. It began as a group called “Intersex and Allies” which has been operational since 2018. The group was formed when members of existing intersex-led groups forming an alliance, with an aim to provide a peer-support space and guidance space for families and the public. At the heart of iCon UK’s core belief is the positive representation of all intersex people. iCon UK represents the interests of people born with intersex traits/variations of sex development and diverse or differences in sex development (DSD). We do not use just one term, as we know each carries its own purpose and community – our goal is to provide peer support; advocate for better protection, human rights, and to educate society towards understanding and acceptance.
This group came to be in 2018 under the name Intersex Chile as an initiative of Asociación OTD Chile, which was looking to direct funding and resources to generate a network of intersex people in the country who could, through their activism, mobilize the recommendations repeatedly reiterated by mechanisms of international law regarding genital surgeries.
This group came to be in 2018 under the name Intersex Chile as an initiative of Asociación OTD Chile, which was looking to direct funding and resources to generate a network of intersex people in the country who could, through their activism, mobilize the recommendations repeatedly reiterated by mechanisms of international law regarding genital surgeries. The process of research-action participation is implemented, the methodology of which allows researchers to make research decisions only when the group of intersex people actively participates and approves the project. After successfully completing this project by way of generating a network of 7 intersex people, funding is obtained for the group to decide how to implement their own intervention based on the results found in their community research.
