HRC plans dialogue with Intersex NZers

Posted in: New Zealand Daily News
By GayNZ.com News Staff - 24th January 2008

Following the recent publication of the New Zealand's Human Rights Commission Transgender Inquiry, the commission believes Intersex people are another group in urgent need of their attention.

'Intersex' is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not seem to fit the typical biological definitions of female or male. Some people now call themselves 'intersex'.

Speaking on Planet FM's G&T Show this morning, the Human Rights Commission's Joy Liddicoat confirmed that the rights of Intersex people will be on the agenda for discussion in future.

"We've still got some way to go with implementing our Transgender Inquiry before we start implementing our next set of inquires, but certainly part of the implementation programme for this inquiry is to consult with Intersex people about what we can do next."

While the HRC's Transgender Inquiry's terms of reference were limited to transgender people, their report notes that Intersex people made submissions that have raised significant human rights issues.

"They merit urgent consideration and will require broader consultation with intersex people and their families, relevant government agencies and health professionals," states the report.

"There are significant issues specific to intersex people in relation to medical procedures performed on children and young people with intersex conditions. Having access to full medical records, including those used as the basis for any legal change of sex, is critically important for intersex people. The absence of such records compounds the invisibility, secrecy and shame felt by many."

People of ambiguous gender are more common than society realises, the University of Hawaii's Intersex researcher Dr Milton Diamond said on the recent trip to New Zealand.

Dr Diamond said that there were one or two Intersex people among 100 heads of population. "Only about one in every 2000 to 4000 people actually have ambiguous genitals that combine male and female organs. But intersexual conditions affecte people's biology in different ways. For instance, someone with XY chromosomes, typically associated with males, could be born looking like a female and raised as a girl.

"We're not talking about something alien and from another planet, we're talking about our neighbours and members of our families," he said.