Wednesday, 26th October, 2022
The 26th of October marks Intersex Awareness Day, a day designed to highlight the human rights issued faced by intersex people.
It also a date to highlight intersex people and their voices, and is followed two weeks later, by the Intersex Day of Remembrance & Solidarity, which continues to highlight the issues faced by intersex people and the community.
“Intersex people are born with physical or biological sex characteristics (such as sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, hormonal patterns and/or chromosomal patterns) that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions for male or female bodies. For some people these traits are apparent prenatally or at birth, while for others they emerge later in life, often at puberty.” – United Nations definition of intersex.
We encourage our followers to read, and affirm, the Darling Statement which highlights the priorities and calls by the intersex human rights movement.
We applaud with gratitude the intersex organisations and groups in Australia, and around the world, that continue their work to ensure intersex people can live without stigma or discrimination, with a right to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, for highlighting the issues that intersex individuals face in sport – particularly when their voices and identities are ignored, and in the pushing for protections needed for infants with intersex variations not to be subjected to unnecessary medical and surgical interventions designed to ‘normalise’ their bodies.
ALBANY PRIDE is proud to observe Intersex Awareness Day, and we continue to follow and support intersex organisations, such as Intersex Human Rights Australia, for the guidance and advocacy of intersex people in our communities – organisations that remain largely underfunded and reliant on volunteers, and we support the Darlington Statement.
We will continue to strive for the best inclusive practice for the intersex members of our community, and to provide a safe and accepting space for intersex people.