Congressional Resolution Celebrates Intersex Awareness Day

metroweekly.com:

resolution, introduced by U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), affirms the dignity and the universal human right to bodily autonomy of intersex individuals.Observed annually, the day is intended to raise awareness of the issues that intersex individuals face, to promote understanding and acceptance of intersex identity, and advocate for the rights of intersex individuals, including their ability to access appropriate and respectful health care treatments.It also commemorates the first public demonstration by intersex people in the United States at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1996.Intersex is a term referring to people with variations in physical traits that differ from typical expectations for male and female bodies regarding the development, appearance, or function of sex-related characteristics.The term can encompass people who have variations in genitals, gonads, reproductive organs, hormone production, or chromosome patterns.

Those traits can present immediately upon birth or may occur naturally at a later time.Intersex individuals face unique challenges and circumstances, particularly in terms of health care and obtaining documents that reflect their identity.For instance, many intersex people are, as children, forced to undergo unnecessary genital surgeries in an effort to force their bodies to “conform” to stereotypical notions of gender.Even as nearly two dozen states have passed laws prohibiting transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming treatments over the past few years, each of those laws contains explicit exceptions allowing doctors to prescribe hormones or perform surgery on intersex youth.Balint and Pocan’s resolution expresses support for the.