Anti-Transgender Legislation Affects Intersex People, Too!

Why intersex people are also harmed by the anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ backlash and what YOU can do

State laws across the country, and now even federal policies, increasingly target transgender people and LGBTQ people more broadly.  Lifesaving, necessary gender-affirming care is being restricted or even criminalized. Discriminatory policies and legislation, such as proper identity document bans, restrictions on participation in sports, and “sex definition” laws that police public restrooms, are attacking people in their day-to-day lives.

What many don’t realize is that every one of these laws and policies affects intersex people, too.

Every state law banning gender-affirming care explicitly allows nonconsensual “normalizing” surgeries on intersex infants, while banning consensual, affirming healthcare from transgender adolescents and increasingly, adults. These lawmakers seek to forcibly control trans and intersex people’s bodies at the cost of their health and autonomy.

Here at interACT, we support transgender and intersex people in the fight to access lifesaving, necessary care. Everyone deserves the right to make their own decisions about their own bodies and live authentically as themselves. We stand together in solidarity with transgender and LGBTQ people against discriminatory threats in the law.

Tap each section below to learn more.

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE
Intersex and transgender flags crossing, with text that reads Bodily Autonomy is a Human Right
Illustration by Alex Yoon for Transgender Education Network of Texas, Intersex Awareness Day 2019

Transgender describes people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be when they were born. Cisgender means an individual’s gender is the same as what was presumed at birth.

Intersex people are born with a variation in their sex traits that may not fit typical expectations of male or female bodies. There are many possible differences in reproductive anatomy, hormones, or chromosomes, and over 40 intersex variations.

But just like transgender people, intersex people are under attack— and being erased.

Intersex isn’t rare— 2% of the population is born intersex. Someone you know is likely intersex, maybe even someone you love.

Intersex people are born with these differences, though they may not be discovered until puberty or even adulthood. Intersex isn’t a “third sex,” but a range of variations. Babies who have visible intersex traits are still usually assigned male or female.

A person’s intersex status is different than their gender identity. Intersex people may grow up to identify as men, women, nonbinary, or another way, or neither.

Some intersex infants and children are nonconsensually operated on to make their bodies look more “typically” male or female. This is harmful and unnecessary, and is NOT gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care is provided with a person’s informed consent to meet their medical needs.

Intersex and transgender people challenge the rigid, binary boxes the Trump administration wants to shove us in.

Trans and intersex people must be in solidarity together.

Intersex and transgender people need accurate and consistent IDs to open bank accounts, start new jobs, enroll in school, and travel—but many are unable to access accurate identity documents and passports.

Some intersex people (including those who are also transgender) need a gender marker that is different than their assigned sex at birth, which some states (and now the federal government) will not allow.

For those who need X markers, they are no longer an option on passports under the Trump administration.

An executive order from Trump attempted to redefine sex with narrow and unscientific definitions of male and female. Some intersex people do not fit neatly within these new definitions.

Throughout the history of sports, many women suspected to be intersex have been subjected to invasive “sex testing.” Women in sports who are perceived as not being “woman enough” have been forced to alter their bodies to be allowed to play.

This playbook is now being used to target transgender girls and women.

This attack on transgender girls in sports is an attack on all girls and women in athletics. Strict “sex”-based sports policies will encourage harassment, scrutiny of women’s and girls’ bodies, and invasive exams such as DNA tests that violate students’ privacy and dignity. Read what intersex student-athletes have to say.

Attempts to ban gender-affirming care block some intersex youth from accessing healthcare, especially if it is perceived as gender-affirming.

State bans on gender-affirming care include explicit “exceptions” that shield surgeons who operate on intersex youth. “Intersex exceptions” do not protect consensual care, but instead enshrine in law the practice of nonconsensual surgery known as intersex genital mutilation.

The same laws that prevent trans adolescents and adults from accessing necessary, consensual healthcare endorse harmful, nonconsensual surgeries on intersex infants.

Many of the same hospitals that are now denying gender-affirming care are still openly practicing these nonconsensual surgeries on intersex infants.

Intersex people are also harmed when legislators try to police bathrooms.

Many laws prohibiting transgender people from using the bathroom aligned with their gender define “sex” with reference to chromosomes and/or reproductive anatomy.

Intersex people who do not fit into these strict categories might be forced to use a bathroom that does not align with their gender, or could be banned from multi-user restrooms altogether.

When LGBTQIA+ rights are under attack, intersex people cannot be forgotten. Transgender and intersex people are united in the fight for bodily autonomy. Everyone deserves the right to make informed decisions about their own bodies.

Be part of the change!

  • Protesting a hospital’s policies? Look up if they permit nonconsensual intersex surgeries. Include that policy change in your demands.
  • Protesting harmful legislation or policies? Share the potential impact on intersex people.
  • Print more of these brochures and share them everywhere.
  • Use the intersex-inclusive progress pride flag. Use the “I” in “LGBTQIA+” Don’t let us be erased!
  • Advocate for transgender AND intersex rights together using #TransIntersexSolidarity

We urge all of those involved in the discussion around gender-affirming care bans not to forget that they directly impact intersex youth as well as transgender youth. It may be natural to focus on the group under direct attack and to gloss over smaller clauses for intersex exception–but intersex youth have been the “exception” in medicine for far too long already, occupying a space where basic ethics and “do no harm” don’t always seem to apply. Bills that restrict gender-affirming care for trans minors also promote non-consensual “normalizing” procedures on intersex children. Denying both groups control over their bodies upholds a very narrow and fear-based definition of “normal”–one that looks like a “typical” (binary and cisgender) body, at whatever cost to the individual.

In practice, this would mean that transgender people must be prevented from changing their bodies, while intersex people must be prevented from keeping theirs.

Additionally, many organizations fighting these policies have taken the approach of defending medical authority–in essence, saying these bills are wrong solely because they restrict doctors’ practice or don’t defer to the medical community’s judgment about what the best treatment options are for their patients.

We urge you to consider that the medical model has been the source of ongoing harm to intersex people. To this day, advocacy for intersex human rights often is stalled by decision makers who would rather “defer to the medical experts” than to the people whose lives have been affected by the practices in question. While most doctors certainly want what is best for their patients, unfortunately medical practices do not always line up with patients’ rights and well-being. Let’s not make the mistake of implying that no medical practices may ever be in need of regulation. It’s largely due to rights-based advocacy and regulation that the medical establishment has moved away from gatekeeping trans autonomy and toward providing affirming care.

The reason these policies are wrong is that they deny the autonomy of two vulnerable groups of individuals.  

Join us in the fight for intersex rights.

interACT works to empower intersex youth and advance the rights of all people with innate variations in their physical sex characteristics through advocacy, public engagement and community connection.