Intersex Awareness Day (IAD)
Putting the I in #LGBTQIA
Did you know Intersex people are the nearly 2% (around the same percentage of people who have red hair) of the population with natural variations in their sex traits or reproductive anatomy?
Not everyone is born neatly into male or female boxes, and that’s perfectly okay.
Intersex is an umbrella term for people with sex characteristics – chromosome patterns, genitals, gonads – outside the binary of male and female bodies.
It has nothing to do with sexuality or gender.
The traits are sometimes visible at birth, but also might not appear until puberty – or at all.
One of the main challenges intersex people face is surgeries to “fix” their genitalia.
Many intersex children go through unnecessary genital procedures to appear more male or female, which can often lead to physical and mental health consequences.
Intersex people do not need to be fixed, but they do need to be respected for who they are.
IAD is a day to recognize the strength and diversity in human experience.
Today’s date marks the first-time intersex people protested in public in the US against harm from medical providers and united for bodily autonomy.
Celebrate #IAD2022 by lifting up intersex voices & demanding intersex human rights.