A core aspect of human autonomy and dignity is to be able to make decisions about our own bodies. But each year, doctors around the country continue to perform medically unnecessary, harmful surgeries on intersex infants and children, just to "normalize" their bodies. What this means is that doctors are forcing infants and young children to undergo medically unnecessary genital surgery simply to force their natural bodies to conform to traditional societal—and binary—views of "male" and "female" bodes.

These irreversible surgeries are increasingly considered a violation of human rights and can lead to a lifetime of trauma, physical pain, loss of genital sensitivity, incontinence, scarring, sterilization, or incorrect gender assignment. Yet they are often justified solely by the adult fear of the child being stigmatized by a perceived nonconforming body.

Instead of forcing conformity, we should celebrate our differences. October 26 marks Intersex Awareness Day. On this day—and every other day of the year—the ACLU stands with intersex people and allies throughout the country and world to protect and advance the fundamental human rights and civil liberties of intersex people.

— Elizabeth Gill

Elizabeth Gill is a Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Northern California and the National ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project.

INTERSEX PEOPLE ARE LEADING THE WAY

Intersex Awareness Day is about reminding the world that intersex people exist and in many different variations. It gives us a platform to educate and to acknowledge the intersex advocates, like myself, who fight for the social equity and bodily autonomy of intersex people.

When I was growing up, I began growing facial and body hair at the same time that I was growing boobs and having my first period. I was constantly misgendered and couldn’t figure out why I was being told that I was a "normal girl" by my family and my doctors when I didn’t look like any of the girls in my class. None of them had Adam’s Apples or beards. I was born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, CAH for short. This means that my body doesn’t produce enough cortisol, a stress hormone our bodies need to function properly, and to compensate, my body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone. Testosterone produces what we typically refer to as "secondary male characteristics."

I also had an enlarged clitoris and my urologist assured me that undergoing a vaginoplasty to make my genitals appear more "normal" would enable me to be able to "use" my vagina. I don’t know why he assumed to know about how I would or would not want to "use" my vagina.

I didn’t know how the surgery was going to be performed. My urologist told me that I might lose sensation as a result, but I remember not knowing what that meant and feeling too embarrassed to ask. I now understand what it meant and looking back I realized that this should have been a much larger conversation than it was. What he should have said was that my ability to feel pleasure during intercourse could be compromised because of the surgery. All patients deserve that kind of transparency. Luckily, this was not the case for me, but it is for many other intersex individuals.

These high-risk and irreversible surgeries are performed to conform our bodies to gender expectations, often with patients having little or no say in this personal decision to determine what, if any, treatment or surgery is appropriate for us. They may be well-intentioned, but these surgeries are oftentimes carried out with the assumption that this is what children would want as adults.

In my case, I never did "use" my vagina the way the doctor assumed I would because most of my intimate partners have been cis gender women. Instead of preparing me for a penis, my urologist could have affirmed that there was nothing wrong with my intersex body.

Fortunately, earlier this year, California State Senator Scott Wiener introduced a bill that would help preserve options for children born with natural variations in their sex characteristics by delaying medically unnecessary surgeries until patients can participate in these personal decisions and determine what treatment or surgery is right for them.

SB 201 would allow patients to make informed decisions about their own bodies. When I had the procedure, I hadn’t had enough life experiences to make an informed decision about what was being done to my body, even though I’m the one that has to suffer the consequences, not my parents and not my doctors.

If passed, the bill would give patients the power to drive conversations about surgery, not doctors. If I could go back, I would do more research on my urologist and find out how much experience he’s had performing these surgeries successfully. I wish I could have asked more personal questions about how surgery might affect my sex life and romantic partnerships. These are important questions that parents might be too embarrassed to ask or might not think to ask, but answers that patients should have the right to know.

There are no proven risks in delaying these surgeries, but a 2017 report by Human Rights Watch found that non-consensual surgeries caused trauma and shame in intersex patients, instead of preventing them. It’s time to center care on the needs of patients themselves.

— Bria Brown-King

Bria Brown-King is a Communications intern with interACT and a graduate student at Bay Path University.

To learn more, visit interactadvocates.org.

The ACLU has Sued on Behalf of an Unlawfully Arrested Human Rights Worker

Ana Adlerstein, a volunteer human rights worker at the United States/Mexico border, was suddenly arrested and jailed while accompanying an asylum seeker across the border at the Lukeville Port of Entry in Arizona. It was a bogus, unlawful arrest — Adlerstein was never charged with a crime, and after several hours she was let go.

Adlerstein is now a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the ACLU Foundation of Arizona, and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, challenging the federal government's surveillance and arrests of activists at the border. At the time of her arrest, she was carrying a letter from an ACLU attorney asserting her right to cross the border, a precaution she had taken due to increasing intimidation from the authorities, but the officer tossed it away.

The following is a conversation between Adlerstein and Erin Kilbride, who works with Frontline Defenders, a global organization that seeks to protect human rights defenders. On May 5, Kilbride traveled to Sonoyta, Mexico on to serve as the security contact for Adlerstein in case she or the asylum seeker met any trouble.

Adlerstein's intention on May 5 was to simply observe the asylum seeker whom we are calling Renee, present their claim, a process that should take a few minutes. Kilbride ended up waiting for four hours at an Oxxo convenience store on the Mexico side of the border before Adlerstein finally emerged.

Ana: I will never forget the moment that I walked out of the Lukeville Port of Entry and saw you still sitting inside of that Oxxo!

Erin: Me neither!

Ana: I am so grateful that you were there.

Erin: One of the things that's interesting in your case is that despite what happened that night, Renee was able to present his asylum claim. That goes to show that everything that happened to you was entirely an act of retaliation. It was not about them trying to stop our friend from seeking asylum. It was about retaliation towards the American citizen who was attempting to help him do so, and an indicator of their fear of solidarity across citizenship lines.

The way Customs and Border Protection responded to that letter that you had from the ACLU with utter contempt indicates that it was not making you any safer. If anything, it was raising that officer's very — it sounded like very masculine — reactiveness. They were angry at you because you were attempting to deploy your privilege in a certain way.

Ana: Let's talk through the experience of that day.

Erin: I came across the border on foot and met you both at the Oxxo. We had a bit of an opportunity to do some kind of very, very quick baseline security-esque planning, which I'm very glad we did. "What are you going in with? Are you carrying the keys? The phone? Your passport? Does your mom know what you do?" All of that kind of stuff. "Is Ana your real name?" [Laughter].

Erin: And then it was time for you guys to go. I remember making sure Renee he had enough water, and like, "God, I wish everybody was wearing more socks than they currently have on."

Ana: Yeah, we didn't even think about me wearing socks.

Erin: So, you guys left. It was at about the hour mark that I let a colleague from Frontline know that I hadn't heard from you. And then a half hour after that Mohammed Tajsar from the ACLU and I started calling back and forth.

Ana: When different officers would come into the cell where I was held, I would look at their watches. After it had been two hours, I just remember how comforting it was to know that our emergency plan had kicked in.

Erin: I was very certain that you had been detained. It truly did not occur to me that you could have been arrested. It didn't occur to any of us that they would have actually used the "a" word.

Ana: I don't think anyone had been arrested accompanying an asylum-seeker up to that point. I don't know if anyone's been after. Have they been?

Erin: Not that I know of.

It was very concerning to me that there aren't that many staff in there at night, and that the majority of them are men. There was a very real element of there being a woman activist, accompanying somebody who is a member of numerous vulnerable groups. It was a lot of layers of gender and sexuality and physicality and militarization that was intersecting there, especially as it started getting dark.

As had been the nature of many other experiences that I've had in this work, the people that I was liaising with at that moment were all men. That is usually how it works when you're dealing with people who are either lawyers or security experts, and their brains don't automatically go to the same places that yours would have, or that mine did. It started to get really sickening.

Ana: Wow. I didn't realize that was how you were thinking.

One of the reasons I was so sure that you wouldn't still be in that Oxxo when I came out was because it was dark, and it was in a dusty border town. And you don't speak Spanish. I was sure you wouldn't be there for your own safety. But I was totally relieved that you were!

Erin: It had never entered my head that you were concerned about me.

Ana: I was.

I want to share one quick story about what happened later, about Renee, who was held in detention after he made his application, and get your take on it. I don't think I've shared this with you because I don't think we've really talked since then, have we?

Erin: Not as much as we should have.

Ana: So after Renee he was in detention for about a month, I went to Eloy Detention Center.

I went into the visiting room, and Renee gave me a huge hug, and we sat down at a table because you know, you have to sit across from each other. The first thing out of his mouth was, "I was so worried about you."

Whereas I was sitting in my cell being confused and scared, but then comforted each time I'd hear someone say something through the thick door in a tone was caring towards Renee, I never considered that Renee was hearing me through his side of the wall too. I wasn't supposed to still be there.

So I don't know what exactly to make of that. Eloy is a horrible prison, and he had been there for over a month at that point, and I was held for four hours... How do you hear that story?

Erin: Well, I think it speaks to how solidarity is not a one-way street. If it was, it would be called charity.

We don't stand in solidarity with people who are sitting. We stand in solidarity with people who are standing, who are fighting, who are walking, who are migrating, and resisting. You can't unmake someone an activist, and you can't decide that someone no longer has agency to stand in solidarity with someone else. There was nothing that, apparently, could be done to Renee to make him not be concerned about you in that moment.

I think the fear that a lot of officials have of migrant rights defense work is that it's overflowing with solidarity. These little acts of solidarity that are happening in the desert, or on boats in the Mediterranean, or in detention and ports of entry are more common than we know. And they're beautiful. Thank you for sharing that story with me.

Ana: Erin, I feel so lucky to have had this time with you. Thank you so much.