San Francisco recognises first Intersex Awareness Day

Supervisors, City and County of San Francisco

Supervisors of the City and Country of San Francisco, from 8 January 2003. Image: City and County of San Francisco


On 19 October, the Board and Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco formally recognised 26 October 2004 “as the first annual Intersex Awareness Day”. The resolution, in File number 041413, was introduced by Supervisors Bevan Dufty, Tom Ammiano and Chris Daly and adopted unanimously. The resolution was approved on 28 October 2004 by mayor Gavin Newsom.

Resolution recognizing October 26, 2004 as the first annual Intersex Awareness Day.

WHEREAS, Approximately one in 2,000 children are born with visibly atypical (or “intersex”) reproductive organs and more are born with similar conditions that are less apparent at birth; and

WHEREAS, The traditional medical protocol for treating intersex children is the surgical concealment of intersex bodies under the assumption that intersex bodies are abnormal and shameful; and

WHEREAS, Normalizing surgeries on intersex children are often pursued to alleviate parental anxieties even when they are not medically necessary; and

WHEREAS, Long-term studies of normalizing reconstructive surgeries have associated them with potentially harmful psychological and sexual long-term outcomes; and

WHEREAS, Since 1993, a number of adults who were subjected to these surgeries as children have organized to call for an end to shame, secrecy and medically unnecessary genital surgeries on children too young to participate in the medical decision-making; and

WHEREAS, The Human Rights Commission of San Francisco held the nation’s first public hearing on the question of unwanted hormonal and surgical interventions in children born with ambiguous genitals; and

WHEREAS, Many people with intersex anatomies testified to the severe pain and suffering caused by the social and medical concealment of intersex bodies; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco applauds the effort of intersex patient advocates and their medical professional allies to end shame, secrecy and medically unnecessary genital surgeries on infants and children; and be

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of City and
County of San Francisco recognizes October 26,2004 as the first annual Intersex Awareness Day.

Details of the Resolution on the website of the website of the City and County of San Francisco.

Human Rights Investigation

In April 2005, the Human Rights Commission of the City and County of San Franscisco published “A Human Rights Investigation Into The Medical “Normalization” Of Intersex People”.

Download a PDF of “Human Rights Investigation Into The Medical “Normalization” Of Intersex People”.