interACT

We see a world where intersex people make their own choices about their bodies. Policy & media org. 📸🦋➡️ @ interact_adv

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Intersex people have existed since the beginning of time and will exist until the end of time. No law, executive order, judge or advocate of pseudoscience can erase us. Their goal is to conceal any existence outside of an impossibly narrow sex binary. Our existence is resistance.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Salem, Massachusetts, will celebrate Intersex Awareness Day with its first-ever flag raising and march.

"Visibility matters, and education is an important part of building a community where everyone is able to live openly and authentically," (Mayor) Pangallo said.

https://t.co/FIohMU1cqC

[interACT @interACT_adv]

This is a MAJOR WIN for intersex and trans people in California!

The law prohibits health plans and insurers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of sex, including intersex traits.

It ensures that intersex and trans patients cannot be denied coverage for medically necessary healthcare, including gender-affirming care.

At a time when the systematic erosion of LGBTQI+ rights has emerged as a federal policy priority, this law is a protection against escalating healthcare attacks.

https://t.co/gAWafKqIoZ

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Dakota West was told by Kansas to give up her driver's license.

She was born intersex and lived as a girl since childhood. Now, if she wanted to keep driving, she needed a license that said male.

She's suing with the @ACLU. “I hope the judge sees I’m a person,” West said. “I’m just a girl trying to have a life like everybody else.”

https://t.co/Kg99AMng6Y

[The Advocate @TheAdvocateMag]

Advocates for both cis and trans girls call foul on a new right-wing proposal that would force school-age female athletes to undergo invasive physical exams to "prove" their gender. https://t.co/4YxFL4ImSG

[interACT @interACT_adv]

The International Olympic Committee abandoned universal chromosome screening in 1999 following sustained criticism from researchers, clinicians and athletes.

Now, more than 25 years later, broad genetic screening is returning to elite women's sport.

https://t.co/kCXtpWSAS8

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Today’s ruling is heartbreaking for the trans and intersex girls who want to play, learn, and thrive alongside their peers.

The ruling gives the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval to policies that intentionally discriminate against women and girls who do not conform to sex stereotypes.

That should alarm anyone who claims to care about women’s rights.

All women and girls deserve the right to play sports without having their bodies subjected to scrutiny and debate—including trans and intersex girls.

The discriminatory sports bans the Court has let stand today are hateful and disheartening, but the ruling does not strip away the broader rights and freedom of trans and intersex people.

We will continue to defend inclusion and equality for our communities at work, in schools, and under democracy.

No matter what, interACT and our allies won’t stop cheering for trans and intersex youth, both on and off the playing field. We will never stop fighting for the rights of intersex young people and their freedom to thrive.

https://t.co/OqDkTrryNJ

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Aces Fox, a former competitive track and field sprinter, was raised as a girl and won two junior Olympics gold medals competing against both boys and girls. At 19, Fox found out they were intersex, with two sets of DNA.

Now, the IOC plans to require testing for adults and minors—who may discover life-altering results at a young age.

The youngest girl to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics was 11 years old. The youngest girl Winter Olympian this year was 15. Under the new rules, both girls will be tested before their next Olympic opportunity.

[USA TODAY Sports @usatodaysports]

IOC's 'heartbreaking' return to gene testing slammed by trans, intersex athletes

https://t.co/50KLhL2eui

[Pop Base @PopBase]

PCOS is being renamed to PMOS. (Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome)

The change comes from experts that say the old name was misleading, stating that it inaccurately suggested ovarian cysts as a defining feature.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

@Megsplains None. This is discrimination only against women.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

All girls and women with Olympic dreams will now be subjected to mandatory genetic testing. Many headlines focused on one point: banning transgender women.

But that misses the bigger story: This policy puts every woman’s body under a microscope and creates a system in which officials decide who is “woman enough” to compete.

https://t.co/UYWiTKLSUy

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Sex testing has a sordid history of use by sporting bodies to target women athletes who, often through variations in their sex characteristics, or intersex traits, have higher than typical natural testosterone.

The practice—in its many forms—has been debunked as unethical, unscientific, and unworkable, and has often relied on racist gender stereotypes. Moreover, there is no scientific consensus that higher than typical testosterone in women confers an athletic advantage. @hrw

https://t.co/0bjkeuji8r

[interACT @interACT_adv]

"Do not use the names of women athletes to target, shame or exclude transgender women. Transgender women are women. Women with intersex variations are women. I welcome these women – and all women – onto my teams." @USATODAY

https://t.co/Nj3q9WKkj9

[interACT @interACT_adv]

@inspidernz "We can always tell" is often just racism.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Most people do not know their chromosomes until they undergo sex testing. Widespread sex testing mandates in the Olympics mean surprises for some athletes, who are outed and banned from the sport they love simultaneously.

[lep1c2l0 @lep1c2l0]

somehow the only people who surprisingly, suddenly learn about their genetics are competing in women's sports

[interACT @interACT_adv]

@warmsox Probably! Not everyone knows for sure. Women with XY chromosomes have given birth before.

https://t.co/GoMjXcMDDI

[interACT @interACT_adv]

@Joeyforever21 Probably! But most people don't know for sure.

https://t.co/GoMjXcMDDI

[interACT @interACT_adv]

@ChrisJoDec1963 That is the case for many intersex women, too.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

@_XXWomanXX_ 1.7%. Same rate as red hair or green eyes. This is based on well-established facts.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

If you haven't taken a genetic test, you don't know what your chromosomes are, either. They might be XX or XY. They might be XO, XXY, or a mix of XX/XY.

Science is more complex than many people feel comfortable believing.

[interACT @interACT_adv]

Many athletes may only learn they are intersex from genetic testing. “There are places around the world where this kind of outing is incredibly dangerous. I would like to think the U.S. is not one of those places. But right now it doesn't feel like that to a lot of people.”

[TIME @TIME]

A new Olympic policy on genetic testing could reshape women’s sports and raise questions for intersex and cisgender athletes alike.

https://t.co/Lf8HrsiB2J