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"Intersex people form a diverse population with many different kinds of bodies, sex characteristics, sex assignments, genders, identities, life experiences, and terminology and word preferences. What we share in common is an experience of having innate sex characteristics (such as chromosomes, gonads or hormones) that differ from medical norms for female or male bodies. We risk violence, stigmatisation and harmful practices because our bodies are seen as different."
– Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA)
The LGBTQIA+ acronym encompasses many varied and diverse communities and individual experiences of people across the globe, including the distinctiveness of the 'I'. As a Committee without intersex representation, it's vital we actively take leadership from the intersex movement and intersex community consensus statements, and we encourage our member base to do the same. We acknowledge the distinction of ‘I’ in the LGBTQIA+ acronym, and deliberately use ‘LGBT’ or specific terms from within the acronym that are relevant to each situation.
With this in mind, our Intersex Awareness Day newsletter aims to raise awareness of the diversity within the intersex community, to support human rights claims, and to encourage respect of the intersex human rights movement without tokenism. We have put together a community-informed collection of resources that speak to need, representation and allyship, highlighting leading organisations such as Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA).
This week IHRA launched their Yellow Tick affirmative inclusion program and practices (see more below). The Pride in Action Network Committee commits to:
- Implementing the new inclusive practice toolkits in our work going forward;
- Bringing these guides to wider University policy review and discussions; and
- Enquiring into the Yellow Tick policy review and training services to help improve the Network's consistency and accountability to making our services more intersex inclusive.
If you are a person born with an intersex variation and would like to join the committee or lead or contribute to future campaigns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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