{"id":74643,"date":"2018-10-26T10:25:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/how-you-can-honor-intersex-awareness-day-and-fight-back-against-the-trump-administration\/"},"modified":"2018-10-26T10:25:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:25:25","slug":"how-you-can-honor-intersex-awareness-day-and-fight-back-against-the-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/how-you-can-honor-intersex-awareness-day-and-fight-back-against-the-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"How you can honor Intersex Awareness Day and fight back against the Trump Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

How you can honor Intersex Awareness Day and fight back against the Trump Administration<\/b><\/p>\n

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To all intersex allies: we need your help now more than ever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intersex Awareness Day (IAD) is October 26, a day on which intersex people and allies from around the world come together to celebrate and uplift the intersex community. IAD has its roots in radical action against institutional forces that sought to normalize our bodies by forcing us into narrowly defined categories of \u201cmale<\/a>\u201d or \u201cfemale<\/a>.\u201d To celebrate being intersex is a triumph over these institutional pressures. This year, it comes just a week after\u00a0the news broke that the Trump administration aims to enact a federal definition of sex<\/a>, basing it on sex<\/a> assigned at birth.<\/p>\n

Much of the press around this memo describes it as an act of violence against the transgender community: an attempt to write trans<\/a> people out of existence by erasing the complexity of sex<\/a> and gender. However, many of these criticisms have failed to include the fact that the effects of this memo are themselves are even further\u00a0reaching. Defining sex<\/a> so narrowly doesn\u2019t just erase trans<\/a> people\u2014it erases nonbinary, gender non-conforming, and especially intersex people, who are often left out of the conversation around LGBTQ rights.\u00a0As intersex people, our lives exist outside of binary gender.<\/p>\n

InterACT Advocates for Intersex Youth<\/a>\u00a0defines intersex as an umbrella term that refers to people who have one or more of a range of variations in sex<\/a> characteristics that fall outside of traditional conceptions of male<\/a> or female<\/a> bodies. What the memo\u2019s initiative asks\u2014that we identify as male<\/a> or female<\/a> according to our birth genitalia\u2014is literally impossible.<\/p>\n

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Intersex identities are often misunderstood and underrepresented. Let’s debunk 10 myths about intersex people: t.co\/VYwWWaIssP<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/cmhGE4RFRz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 GLAAD (@glaad) April 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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We cannot allow this hateful initiative to move forward. This is the moment that our communities need to come together, but to do that we must acknowledge all <\/em>of the communities that are affected by this memo. As an intersex nonbinary trans<\/a> person, I feel outraged, scared, empowered, strong, and a calling to show up and show out not only for myself but my ancestors, my communities, and the future youth.<\/p>\n

Intersex and trans<\/a> history has been intertwined for centuries. Even though these identities are distinct, there are some experiences that do overlap. Both of our communities are deeply affected by binary and heteronormative values that seek to regulate our bodies and conform them to performative mainstream expectations. Where trans<\/a> folks are systematically barred from accessing affirming healthcare, intersex people are frequently subjected to gendered procedures often kept from our trans<\/a> siblings. We cannot keep teaching our youth fundamentally wrong things based in biological essentialism.<\/p>\n

Intersex people exist, illustrating that the sex<\/a> dichotomy that our society tries so hard to keep alive is wrong. I am a living embodiment that this idea is factually untrue: I am intersex, I was born with ambiguous genitalia, and my body does not fit into the two sex<\/a> categories. So where does this leave me and so many people like me?<\/p>\n

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Right now, Malta is still the only country that has legislation banning intersex surgery on infants and children before the age they can consent to surgeries if they choose to pursue them. Intersex individuals in the USA and many other countries around the world are still fighting for their right to bodily autonomy. Without solidarity and action from our allies in the LGBTQ community and in medical institutions, especially doctors and surgeons, intersex lives and bodies will continue to be erased.<\/p>\n

Legislation that seeks to codify a rigid definition of sex<\/a> can and will harm countless numbers of people. Will this now lead to the further medicalization and pathologizing of my body and future generation\u2019s intersex kids? Does this lead to pushing forward the eugenics movement to eradicate future intersex babies by in-utero genetic testing? We cannot allow this to happen. Discriminatory actions like the ones undertaken by the Trump administration places intersex people at risk in ways that are immediately tangible.<\/p>\n

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The desire to force-fit people into societally conditioned boxes has led to sterilizing children and enacting medically unnecessary surgeries on them. Now the Trump administration wants to make this the official preference of the state, writes @xoxy_alicia<\/a> t.co\/KbOV7M1MEM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) October 23, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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I urge you, if you are in New York City, to come out to protest against nonconsensual intersex surgeries and in support of intersex human rights on Saturday, October 27th<\/a><\/strong> at the corner of York Ave and E 61st St. from 2pm-4pm. Follow intersex advocacy groups on social media, and if you can, please donate to intersex-led organizations like Intersex Justice Project<\/a> and InterACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth<\/a>. You can also find more information at 4intersex.org<\/a> to learn about some of the actions you can take to show up for intersex human rights.<\/p>\n

Additional reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n