World-leading intersex law passes in Australia
Here’s what you need to know about the Australian Capital Territory’s new law
Around 1% of people are intersex and have innate variations in their bodies that mean they are not typically male or female. There are dozens of different intersex variations that result from genetic and hormonal differences during development. Some are apparent before or shortly after birth, but others can go unnoticed until later in life.
Unfortunately intersex people have historically been pathologised, and today many are still subjected to medically unnecessary hormonal and surgical interventions in an attempt to force them into binary sex categories.
Our laws must protect intersex people from these harmful and unnecessary procedures. The new law in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) seeks to do just that. It is the result of decades of advocacy from intersex advocates and organisations like Intersex Human Rights Australia and Intersex Peer Support Australia, multiple inquiries, and a proposed legislative model produced by Equality Australia.
The ACT law comes eight years after Malta passed a world-first law in 2015. This was followed by Portugal in 2019, as well and Germany and Iceland in 2021. The ACT law passed last week might not be a world-first…
