A Statement from Intersex People of Color on the 20th Anniversary of Intersex Awareness Day

On October 26, 2016, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of intersex activists picketing the American Academy of Pediatrics in Boston.  This moment gave us what we now know as Intersex Awareness Day. 

Since then, we’ve had a multitude of voices at the forefront letting the world know they too are intersex and there’s nothing unhealthy or shameful about it.  From the (now defunct) Intersex Society of North America’s, Hermaphrodites Speak!, to the more recently released Buzzfeed video, “What It’s Like to Be Intersex,” intersex people have been using media to spread the message that we are survivors of medical violence and our stories are important for the wellness of all people--intersex and non-intersex--alike. 

These acts of bravery, in addition to countless hours of labor by intersex people and allies all across the globe, have laid the foundation for what we now understand as the intersex movement.

As people of color within this movement, we recognize that white supremacy undermines and erases the contributions of people of color because our existence is understood as a threat this country’s foundation which was built on the attempted genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans.  

We also recognize that as intersex people, we too are viewed as threats to the dominant and socially constructed gender binary that eclipses the true spectra of sex and gender. 

As intersex people of color, we acknowledge that we cannot have intersex liberation if we are not in alliance with other oppressed peoples fighting for liberation across multiple movements.

As such, we are committed to expanding the conversations about bodily integrity and autonomy so that our movement as intersex people of color can align with reproductive justice activists, the transgender community, those who are incarcerated, disabled, undocumented, and anyone else fighting for sovereignty of their bodies, communities, and sacred lands.

We are committed to addressing the physical, psychic and medical violence that disproportionately impacts intersex people of color, and support one another as we heal and grow.

We will continue the work of achieving intersex justice with integrity so that our movement embodies the principles and practices centering our lives and struggles. As intersex people of color, we are committed to learning from other justice movements while broadening intersectional analyses and systematically dismantling white supremacy. 

stay in touch with us!

signed, 

Lynnell, Saifa & Pidgeon