Gina Wilson | |
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Born | 1952 Victoria, Australia |
Occupation | Community activist |
Known for | Intersex activist, founder of Intersex Human Rights Australia |
Website | ihra |
Gina Wilson is an Australian intersex human rights activist. She was the founding president of Intersex Human Rights Australia (formerly known as OII Australia). [1]
Wilson was born in Victoria, Australia in 1952.
Gina Wilson founded Intersex Human Rights Australia in 2009 and remained as president of the organisation until stepping down on 1 September 2013. She was succeeded by Morgan Carpenter [2] [3] and has since returned as vice-president. [4] She has also been a member of the board of the National LGBTI Health Alliance [5] [6] [7] a board associate of the AIDS Council of New South Wales, [8] and Lidcombe, New South Wales branch president of the Australian Labor Party. [9] [10]
In her work at Intersex Human Rights Australia, Gina Wilson played an important role in improving access to healthcare, inclusion of intersex people in anti-discrimination legislation, and in aged care. [11] [12]
Wilson has played a leading role in moves to protect people on the basis of "intersex status" in anti-discrimination law, appearing before a Senate inquiry. [13] Interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald, Wilson spoke about how initial proposals for intersex inclusion in federal legislation were inappropriate as they classed intersex as a gender identity. [14]
A Senate of Australia inquiry into anti-discriminination legislation supported the approach of the organisation and "intersex status" was added to the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Act 2013, which passed into law on 1 August 2013. [15] [16] [17] [18]
Wilson has called for "normalising" surgeries on intersex infants to end, saying that such interventions should only take place when a child is able to provide informed consent. [19] In comments on Intersex Awareness Day 2012, Wilson said, "At a fundamental level homophobic bigotry, intolerance and ancient superstitions underpin contemporary mistreatment of intersex people. Intersex people are subjected to forced gendering and surgical alterations to our bodies to "disappear" our differences in a society that regards difference in sex anatomy as deeply suspicious." [20]
Interviewed by Andrew Bock in The Age, Wilson expressed concern about the use of prenatal screening to terminate intersex foetuses. [21]
Wilson played a role in efforts to improve access to Medicare services in 2013. [22] [23] The organisation has also called for the removal of intersex people from definitions of gender identity disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual, saying "The assumption is that the birth assignment must be right. The doctor is never at fault, it's the poor intersex person who is wrong, who then gets carted off to a psychiatrist to try and 'fix' us." [24]
While welcoming federal guidelines on recognition of gender, [25] Wilson has expressed concern about misrepresentation of intersex issues by some trans groups [26] including the instrumentalisation of intersex in moves to create a third gender category, warning of "far-reaching unintended consequences". [27] [28] [29] [30]
Selected published work includes:
Gina Wilson was a finalist for the Australian Human Rights Commission Community Individual Award, 2013. The Commission describes the award as one of "the two most vigorously contested categories for the 2013 Australian Human Rights Awards" [35] [36] commenting that her "intersex advocacy work has been ground-breaking, helping to achieve authentic and appropriate inclusion in anti-discrimination legislation." [37] Wilson was also nominated for a Community Hero "Honour Award" in 2011. [38]
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) is an organization which is committed to advancing human rights to all people, disregarding gender identity, sex characteristics and expression. ILGA participates in a multitude of agendas within the United Nations, such as creating visibility for LGBTI issues by conducting advocacy and outreach at the Human Rights Council, working with members to help their government improve LGBTI rights, ensuring LGBTI members are not forgotten in international law, and advocating for LBTI women's issues at the Commission on the Status of Women.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Australia significantly advanced over the latter half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century, and are now ranked among the highest in the world. Opinion polls and the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey indicate widespread popular support for same-sex marriage within the nation. A 2013 Pew Research poll found that 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth-most supportive country surveyed in the world. With its long history of LGBT activism and annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
The Organisation Intersex International (OII) is a global advocacy and support group for people with intersex traits. According to Milton Diamond, it is the world's largest organization of intersex persons. A decentralised network, OII was founded in 2003 by Curtis Hinkle and Sarita Vincent Guillot. Upon Hinkle's retirement, American intersex activist Hida Viloria served as Chairperson/President elect from April 2011 through November 2017, when they resigned in order to focus on OII's American affiliate, OII-USA's transition into the independent American non-profit, the Intersex Campaign for Equality.
Alex MacFarlane is an Australian activist who is an intersex person born with XXY sex chromosomes in Victoria. MacFarlane is believed to be the first holder of an indeterminate birth certificate and passport.
Australia is one of the most LGBT-friendly countries in the world. In a 2013 Pew Research poll, 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth most supportive country in the survey behind Spain (88%), Germany (87%), and Canada and the Czech Republic. With a long history of LGBT rights activism and an annual three-week-long Mardi Gras festival, Sydney is considered one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Western Australia have seen significant progress since the beginning of the 21st century, with male sex acts legal since 1990 and the state parliament passing comprehensive law reforms in 2002. The state decriminalised male homosexual acts in 1990 and was the first to grant full adoption rights to LGBT couples in 2002.
Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) is a voluntary organisation for intersex people that promotes the human rights and bodily autonomy of intersex people in Australia, and provides education and information services. Established in 2009 and incorporated as a charitable company in 2010, it was formerly known as Organisation Intersex International Australia, or OII Australia. It is recognised as a Public Benevolent Institution.
LGBTIQ+ Health Australia is a peak health organisation for LGBT and intersex organisations in Australia. A not-for-profit company, it was established in August 2007.
Intersex civil society organizations have existed since at least the mid-1980s. They include peer support groups and advocacy organizations active on health and medical issues, human rights, legal recognition, and peer and family support. Some groups, including the earliest, were open to people with specific intersex traits, while others are open to people with many different kinds of intersex traits.
The International Intersex Forum is an annual event organised, then later supported, by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe that and organisations from multiple regions of the world, and it is believed to be the first and only such intersex event.
Morgan Carpenter is a bioethicist, intersex activist and researcher. In 2013, he created an intersex flag, and became president of Intersex Human Rights Australia. He is now a co-executive director. In 2015, he cofounded a project to mark Intersex Awareness Day.
Transgender Victoria (TGV) is a voluntary organisation for transgender people, their partners, families, and non-binary individuals. It promotes equity, and health and community services for transgender people in Victoria, Australia. In December 2014, Transgender Victoria won the Community Organisation Award, from the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". "Because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatized and subjected to multiple human rights violations".
Transgender rights in Australia have legal protection under federal and state/territory laws, but the requirements for gender recognition vary depending on the jurisdiction. For example, birth certificates, recognised details certificates, and driver licences are regulated by the states and territories, while Medicare and passports are matters for the Commonwealth.
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than the non-intersex population, with an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.
Intersex rights in Australia are protections and rights afforded to intersex people through statutes, regulations, and international human rights treaties, including through the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) which makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person based upon that person's intersex status in contexts such as work, education, provision of services, and accommodation.
The Malta declaration is the statement of the Third International Intersex Forum, which took place in Valletta, Malta, in 2013. The event was supported by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe and brought together 34 people representing 30 organisations from multiple regions of the world.
Intersex rights in Malta since 2015 are among the most progressive in the world. Intersex children in Malta have world-first protections from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions, following the passing into law of the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act in 2015. All Maltese intersex persons have protection from discrimination. Individuals who seek it can access simple administrative methods of changing sex assignment, with binary and non-binary forms of identification available.
Intersex rights in China including the People's Republic of China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, etc., are protections and rights afforded to intersex people through legislation and regulation. Obligations also arise in United Nations member states that sign international human rights treaties, such as the People's Republic of China. Intersex people in China suffer discrimination. Issues include both lack of access to health care and coercive genital surgeries.