Intersex Ireland

03/05/2025

May 13th, 5pm! 💛💜💛

08/11/2024

November 8th is Inters*x Day of Remembrance.

CW, TW
Su***de, legal abuse, medical abuse, IGM

Today is the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French inters*x woman that was assigned female at birth and raised as a girl but forced by law to live as a man after a medical inspection. She committed su***de a few years later in 1868.

So has the treatment of inters*x people gotten much better since then? Not really. Since the 1950s almost all inters*x children have been forced into “normalizing” ge***al surgeries that include clitorectomies and castration for reasons cited by surgeons as social emergencies.

A 2020 study of inters*x adults in the US found almost one third of participants reported having attempted su***de. Responses to this question did not differ significantly by age group.

This compares to just 0.5 percent of the general population according to the 2018 National Survey of Drug Use and Mental Health.

Scientists suggest that the high rate of suicidality and poor mental health amongst participants may be due to adverse experiences including high rates of stigma and discrimination from society and poor treatment in healthcare settings.

Irreversible IGM or Inters*x Ge***al Mutilation is purported to protect us from discrimination but it just leaves us with other issues.

Research released this year from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights shows sharp increases in violence and discrimination against inters*x people as well as trans people.

There is no reason to think that circumstances are for inters*x people are much better in Ireland where “normalising” surgeries are performed but the HSE refuses to put put inters*x information on its website or provide clear care pathways for inters*x people after they’ve been butchered in infancy.

This year, after many years of hard work and with the support of ICCL and the rest of the CAHC Ireland finally got a hate crime law and it includes inters*x variations of s*x characteristics.

Ireland needs to continue its progressive streak and follow in the footsteps of Greece, Spain, Malta, Iceland, Germany and Portugal and end ge***al mutilation of inters*x children that would be illegal under any other circumstances.

*xdayofremembrance2024 *xdayofremembrance *x *xchildren *xge***almutilation

26/10/2024

Today is Inters*x Awareness Day.

This week after many years of hard work by the Coalition Against Hate Crime of which Inters*x Ireland is a part, inters*x variations of bodily characteristics were included in Ireland’s first hate crime laws 🥳🥳🥳

Inters*x people, along with transgender people, refugees, migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers need protection.

This year, the European Union published research showing sharp increases in violence and discrimination against inters*x people as well as against transgender people.

For many of us, violence against us begins early.

Inters*x people have lived experience of being subjected to early ge***al surgeries and hormonal interventions as well as living with the effects of these procedures but we are not included or consulted regarding inters*x medical protocols.

When we complain that doctors hurt us and efforts to seek help with the damage they have done are fruitless our voices and experience are disregarded.

Our parents are told these surgeries will make our lives better but yet we have some of the highest su***de rates of any demographic. We are suffering and not being listened to by those who continue to hurt us.

Spain, Greece, Portugal, Iceland, Germany and Malta have banned irreversible, traumatic and medically unnecessary surgical procedures from being performed on inters*x children far too young to provide informed consent.

Sadly, Ireland has yet to catch up. Surgical procedures, many of which are indistinguishable from FGM - Female Ge***al Mutilation - are still being performed on inters*x children in Ireland.

FGM is banned in Ireland. IGM - Inters*x Ge***al Mutilation - should be too.

Join us in demanding an end to IGM in Ireland and elsewhere.

*xawarenessday *xkids *xireland

08/10/2024

The Astraea Le***an Foundation for Justice dreams of liberated futures for all of us. We support all activists doing the critical work to educate and fight for Palestinian liberation. We strongly condemn the escalation of indiscriminate attacks on civilians that have taken place on October 7 up to this day and call for an immediate end to all military aggression that is destroying Palestinian families, culture, and lineages.

While the last 365 days have been full of grief, displacement, and devastation, we recognize that Palestinian land has been dispossessed and under siege for the last 76 years. We have witnessed families separated, land stolen, and over 42,000 Palestinians killed.

The last year has also been full of resistance. We stand with all who have participated in protests, halted or prevented shipments of military supplies, donated to relief and humanitarian funds, and dialogued with their communities about Palestinian freedom. We believe that everyone deserves to live their lives freely, without fear, and with dignity. Liberation for all is not possible without a liberated Palestine.

The Astraea Foundation stands with more than 250 fellow progressive philanthropic organizations as a part of Funders for a Ceasefire in speaking out. Read our updated statement one year into the ongoing escalation: https://funders4ceasefire.org/

We dream of a free Palestine, now and always.

08/10/2024

Happy Le***an Day from all of us in Inters*x Ireland!

Sending love to le****ns everywhere including inters*x le****ns.

Did you know there is documentation dating back to the 1700s arguing for inters*x childhood ge***al surgeries to be performed to prevent children born with larger than typical clitorises from engaging in le***an s*x as adults?

Unfortunately, as our members have discovered, this thinking still prevails today.

Clitorectomies and other procedures are performed to guarantee future heteros*xuality and the comfort of future imagined heteros*xual partners with little to no consideration given to the gender identity or s*xuality of the person the inters*x child will become.

Adult inters*x le****ns have been told by their surgeons they can’t be le****ns because they were operated on as children.
This is horrific.

Inters*x Ireland calls for inters*x children to be left untouched by surgeons and for inters*x children to be allowed to grow to become the people they naturally are and to be celebrated and included without surgical intervention.

*x ***anday *xkids *xyouth *xireland

21/09/2024

Thanks to everyone who nominated us for the galas. Absolutely delighted that we have been shortlisted

23/08/2024

So excited for this with our very own Sarah Haveron

17/08/2024

Thank you GCN for helping to give inters*x people in Ireland a voice https://gcn.ie/magazine/rainbow-family/

*x *xireland

07/08/2024

Could everyone please nominate Inters*x Ireland for a GALA award. At www.galas.ie We are in category voluntary organisation with unpaid volunteer staff.

Taking place in a new venue, the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on 5th October, the GALAS is a unique opportunity to celebrate, empower and connect Ireland’s glittering LGBTQ+ community. 

14/07/2024

Grateful for providing space for inters*x meetups every third Saturday from 1-4pm. Link to register is www.outhouse.ie/inters*x-support *x

17/05/2024

Today is IDAHOT+ 2024, International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia.

Today the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights released their latest survey on LGBTI+ wellbeing.

Findings show sharp increases in violence and discrimination in particular against inters*x and trans people which will not surprise anyone paying attention to worldwide efforts by the right to impede progress through divide and conquer strategies that target society’s most vulnerable.

State violence, including reluctance by Ireland to cease butchery of inters*x infants and provide healthcare to trans people contributes to these inequalities.

On IDAHOT+ 2024, we in Inters*x Ireland call on Ireland to join its neighbours Greece, Spain, Iceland, Germany and Malta by ending unnecessary ge***al surgeries on inters*x children.

None of us are safe until the most marginalised amongst us are safe.

+ *xkids

09/04/2024

In a landmark vote, the Human Rights Council on April 4 adopted a resolution calling on Member States to enhance efforts to combat discrimination, violence and harmful practices against inters*x people, the first of its kind for the United Nations. The resolution also calls on Member States to address the root causes, such as stereotypes, spread of misconceptions and inaccurate information, stigma and taboo, and to work to fulfil the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health for persons with innate variations in s*x characteristics.

(OHCHR, 2024)

We send thanks and praise to all of the wonderful, hard working activists and organisations that made this happen.

How long now until the Irish government stop failing inters*x people and begin to listen to them?

Will the HSE now stop performing harmful, irreversible non-consensual surgeries on the bodies of inters*x children?

Will inters*x now be included in educational curriculums?

Will the HSE now start providing adequate mental healthcare to the inters*x people it’s failed and butchered?

Will the HSE now start providing adequate and appropriate healthcare for inters*x people including those that are trans?

*xkids