Why and how is intersex LGBTQ+?
The three broad categories of the LGBTQ+ umbrella are gender, sex, and sexuality. Your sexuality is concerned with who you’re attracted to, your gender is your internal sense of identity, and your sex is based on your body and your chromosomes. Most of the identities in the LGBTQIAP+ umbrella fall under the category of sexuality: lesbian, gay, bi, queer, asexual, pansexual, etc. Trans and non-binary relate to gender, and queer can also encompass gender. The ‘i’ in the acronym is for intersex, which represents a sex which deviates from the binary categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’. An intersex person is someone whose sexual anatomy fits into neither category, and will often display features of both. In some cases these are visible at birth, while in others they are not apparent until puberty.
Some intersex people may choose to transition from one gender to another, but many do not. An intersex person may consider themself trans, but not all intersex people do, as gender is different from sex, and intersex is an identity which relates to sex, or physical characteristics, rather than gender identity. However, intersex people may face lots of similar difficulties to trans people, as their physical appearances don’t always resemble binary genders like cisgender or dyadic (a term for a non-intersex person) people, and they may be perceived as transgender. However, there are also experiences which are unique to being intersex. Because being intersex is not very common and the identity is not well known, intersex people are often quite isolated and may lack a sense of community. There is very little representation of intersex people in the media, and intersex is rarely included in sex education, which further contributes to the marginalisation of intersex people. Furthermore, the surgery frequently performed on intersex children creates a stigma that intersex is something that needs to be ‘corrected’ or hidden, much like attempts to ‘correct’ or ‘convert’ gay and trans people to be cisgender and straight. Consequently, intersex people form a marginalised and often invisible group which deserves a place in the LGBTQ+ community. Of course, not all intersex people consider themselves ‘queer’, but there should definitely be a space for those who do feel a part of the community.
The intersex community has two days a year dedicated to much-needed awareness and remembrance of its identity and history, like other identities in the LGBTQ+ community:
The three broad categories of the LGBTQ+ umbrella are gender, sex, and sexuality. Your sexuality is concerned with who you’re attracted to, your gender is your internal sense of identity, and your sex is based on your body and your chromosomes. Most of the identities in the LGBTQIAP+ umbrella fall under the category of sexuality: lesbian, gay, bi, queer, asexual, pansexual, etc. Trans and non-binary relate to gender, and queer can also encompass gender. The ‘i’ in the acronym is for intersex, which represents a sex which deviates from the binary categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’. An intersex person is someone whose sexual anatomy fits into neither category, and will often display features of both. In some cases these are visible at birth, while in others they are not apparent until puberty.
Some intersex people may choose to transition from one gender to another, but many do not. An intersex person may consider themself trans, but not all intersex people do, as gender is different from sex, and intersex is an identity which relates to sex, or physical characteristics, rather than gender identity. However, intersex people may face lots of similar difficulties to trans people, as their physical appearances don’t always resemble binary genders like cisgender or dyadic (a term for a non-intersex person) people, and they may be perceived as transgender. However, there are also experiences which are unique to being intersex. Because being intersex is not very common and the identity is not well known, intersex people are often quite isolated and may lack a sense of community. There is very little representation of intersex people in the media, and intersex is rarely included in sex education, which further contributes to the marginalisation of intersex people. Furthermore, the surgery frequently performed on intersex children creates a stigma that intersex is something that needs to be ‘corrected’ or hidden, much like attempts to ‘correct’ or ‘convert’ gay and trans people to be cisgender and straight. Consequently, intersex people form a marginalised and often invisible group which deserves a place in the LGBTQ+ community. Of course, not all intersex people consider themselves ‘queer’, but there should definitely be a space for those who do feel a part of the community.
The intersex community has two days a year dedicated to much-needed awareness and remembrance of its identity and history, like other identities in the LGBTQ+ community:
- Intersex Awareness Day: celebrated on the 26th October, IAD marks the day of the first public protest of the medically unnecessary cosmetic procedures that are still routinely performed on intersex children without their consent. It took place in 1996 in Boston outside a conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics, led by the Intersex Society of North America. It marked the beginning of intersex activism in the US, and is observed annually to raise awareness of intersex genital mutilation and end the shame and secrecy surrounding intersexuality.
- International Intersex Day of Remembrance: held on the 8th of November, it commemorates the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person, whose posthumously-published diary is the earliest known record of intersex lived experience written by an intersex person. It is now honoured annually to highlight issues faced by intersex people.
