“Some intersex people are born with the sexual anatomy of both genders. When they’re teenagers they may begin developing more typical male or female sexual characteristics. I was raised as a girl, but when I reached the age of thirteen I started growing into a boy. My parents were so confused. They didn’t know what was wrong with me. When I went to school, people would make fun of me. They would look at my girl’s name and not understand why I looked like a boy. My friends didn’t want me around them. Even my teachers looked down on me. I felt so alone.”

“When discovering that my young daughters had been born with unexpected sex characteristics, I was told that I should keep it secret from them. Over the years, keeping their secret, not the difference itself, was the problem that led to loneliness and isolation. People need to reimagine being intersex – it’s not a disease, but a way of living in the world.”

“I suffered more than 20 failed surgeries all aimed at trying to “normalize” my body. But I have overcome, and today I am living my life as a proud intersex person.”

“Medical experts destroyed my healthy genitalia and reproductive organs. Why? To make my body cosmetically conform to their idea of what a “normal” woman should look like. These experts are wrong. Nine times out of ten intersex bodies are perfectly healthy. Our bodies are not only normal, but beautiful.”

“Doctors often claim there’s a “silent majority” of intersex people satisfied with the way they were treated as young patients.  I used to be part of this “silent majority” – but was certainly not happy.  Doctors draw this false conclusion because most of their young patients haven’t returned as adults to complain. But their silence is just as likely to be caused by stigma and shame. Its time to end the silence and invisibility of what is actually a traumatized and violated majority.”

“I am intersex and have had to constantly hide this fact about myself to be accepted and safe. It is exhausting, depressing, and kills you slowly. I have suffered harassment throughout my life, and was taught growing up that my body is not mine. It is a public spectacle to be abused, and examined against my will. This has got to stop.”

“I feel blessed that my parents allowed me to be who I am, and I encourage all parents of intersex kids to do the same. Trying to “fix” healthy babies’ bodies to fit social ideals is innately prejudiced, and prejudice is never the solution.”