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Hello and Happy Monday, folks!
Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox on what also happens to be Intersex Awareness Day.
In his latest piece, The Advocate's Christopher Wiggins interviewed Betsy Driver, who co-founded the online community Bodies Like Ours, helped establish Intersex Awareness Day, and became the first openly intersex person elected to public office in the United States.
As Wiggins writes, it's been 30 years since intersex activists and transgender allies protested outside an American Academy of Pediatrics conference in Boston. Their demand — an end to medically unnecessary interventions performed before patients could consent — remains unfinished business. Now, advocates confront policies restricting transgender healthcare while preserving exceptions for procedures on intersex children.
“Stop cutting our bodies,” Driver said. “Stop cutting us, please, and let us be.”
Check out the full story here, and to read more on the topic, see also this op-ed from Thea Hillman on how anti-trans laws are harming people like them, and this other op-ed from Zach Eisenstein of The Trevor Project on why the "only two sexes" argument is a political myth, not a scientific reality.
Until next time!
Can we count on you to support LGBTQ+ journalism? Your valued gift will help continue our legacy — at a critical time in our history as the Trump administration launches repeated attacks against our community. Become an Advocate supporter by choosing your gift amount and frequency; you can cancel any time.
Gay Army Black Hawk pilot Chris Gallant won’t let old fetish photos define his run for Congress
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The ‘I’ in LGBTQIA+ stands for people who are tired of being overlooked
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Op-ed: The 'only two sexes' argument is a political myth, not a scientific reality
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