Our services – Intersex Human Rights Australia

Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) can provide a range of services to individuals, organisations, institutions and community groups around Australia. Contact us for more information.

Training

As of October 2020, IHRA is collaborating with Intersex Peer Support Australia in delivering standardised training packages as part of the Yellow Tick program. these training packages are delivered online or face-to-face (subject to availability and public health regulations) by experienced people with lived experience:

Brief introduction to Intersex people and issues: 120 minutes (including question time) – please enquire now
Intersex content and application half-day workshops: 4 hours (including group work) – please enquire now
Custom and sector-specific training, including intersex for healthcare practitioners and intersex for legal practitioners: please enquire now
Guest lectures and speaking engagements: please enquire now

All trainers are people with intersex variations who have participated in training delivered by IHRA and IPSA, and are authorised by both organisations.

Advocacy, human rights and law reform

IHRA is actively engaged in promoting recognition of intersex people in law and regulations, with a particular focus on improving recognition of our health needs and human rights. Our contributions to public life in Australia include:

collaboration with other intersex organisations and advocates in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand on the Darlington Statement, a community consensus statement (March 2017), as well as participation in international statements including the 2013 Malta Declaration and the 2017 Yogyakarta Principles plus 10.
contributions to Commonwealth and State/Territory policy reform, including through a 2013 Senate Committee inquiry into the involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people. See, for example, our article about the report Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia (October 2013) and cross-party Senate speeches on the issue (March 2014)
IHRA board and staff members are amongst the expert reference group members for a 2018 Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into protections of the human rights of intersex people in the context of medical interventions
arranging annual Intersex Awareness Day events in the federal parliament, in 2017 and 2018
the inclusion of “intersex status” as a biological attribute in federal anti-discrimination legislation, with the intention of no religious exemptions (June 2013)
changes to Medicare to remove gender from item numbers for medical procedures (July 2013)

Peer support

There are currently no staffed publicly-resourced, independent peer support services for people born with intersex variations and our families. This is an issue on which IHRA advocates for reform.

People with intersex variations and our family members and allies may wish to join the Facebook group for IHRA friends and members. It is a “closed” group, to maintain the privacy of members. Please visit the group page if you wish to join. We warmly commend our friends in Intersex Peer Support Australia for peer and family support.

Employment and service delivery

We can advise on making your workplace and service intersex-inclusive, working with you to establish how the needs of intersex people can be met, and how to frame your service in ways that may be more appealing to an intersex audience. Examples include:

advice to the Victoria Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission on guidelines for general practitioners.
Workplace guide to intersex inclusion.
Briefing on intersex inclusion in sport.
Briefing on intersex inclusion in education.
Briefing on intersex people and detention.

Speeches and presentations

We can speak on human rights, ethics, bioethics and intersex lived experience at your events. Our staff have delivered hundreds of hours of event speaking over the last decade, including at local, national and international events.

Analysis, policy development work and education

We are experts. Our staff and board members regularly publish analysis and speak on policy issues. These also promote education and awareness-raising. We can help you to develop an understanding of the range and diversity of intersex people, our needs and issues, and your responsibilities in relation to anti-discrimination legislation. Relevant events include:

a keynote presentation by Morgan Carpenter at Swinburne University pride celebration, October 2018
Intersex, Western medicine and multiculturalism, an article by Tony Briffa in Archer Magazine, September 2018
a written presentation by Morgan Carpenter on intersex people in sport, at the Australian government site Play by the Rules, September 2018
a RightsTalk address by Morgan Carpenter at the Australian Human Rights Commission, February 2017
Tony Briffa speaking at the Darwin Outgames Human Rights Forum, May 2014
Morgan Carpenter speaking at a UN Human Rights Council side event, March 2014

Analysis and information news articles have also been published in peer-reviewed journals and books, with decades of experience, as well as The Guardian, ABC’s The Drum (November 2013 and March 2014), as well as Australian LGBTI media such as the Star Observer.

Resource development

We develop and produce a range of information resources, including leaflets for allies (our ‘101’ introductory resource), parents, and posters. You can find a curated collection of articles about fiction and non-fiction books, videos, films and audio on intersex issues. Our submissions and policies are also available to view, alongside personal stories and comment.