Scott Wiener introduced the resolution | Photo: Facebook/Scott Wiener
California’s state legislature passed a new resolution today (28 August) affirming the rights of intersex people. This makes them the first state in the US with such language and protection.
Senator Scott Wiener (D) first introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 110 (SCR-110) at the end of February. interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth and Equality California co-sponsored the resolution.
Other states have made moves to support intersex rights, including Indiana, Nevada, and Texas. This resolution in California, however, is the first to pass.
According to the language of the resolution, the purpose of it is to ‘foster the well-being of children born with variations of sex characteristics through the enactment of policies and procedures that ensure individualized, multidisciplinary care’.
Freedom to choose and be celebrated
The language of the resolution is telling and broad in its support of intersex people and specifically minors.
One element of it resolves to consider ‘intersex children a part of the fabric of our state’s diversity to be celebrated rather than an aberration to be corrected’.
Further, the resolution also recognizes that ‘intersex children should be free to choose whether to undergo life-altering surgeries that irreversibly—and sometimes irreparably—cause harm’.
Wiener celebrated the passage on Twitter.
Our resolution (#SCR110) urging the medical profession to delay medically unnecessary genital surgeries on #intersex babies has now fully passed the CA Legislature. This is the first time a state has gone on record supporting the intersex community & opposing these surgeries. pic.twitter.com/58ZJNpGske
— Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) August 28, 2018
Intersex people have surgeries performed on them as infants without their consent around the world.
Amnesty International revealed last year that babies in Denmark and Germany face up to five surgeries in their first year alone.
More and more people, however, are revealing the traumas these surgeries can inflict and asserting their pride being intersex.
Sara Kelly Keenan became the first person in the US to have intersex on her birth certificate last year.
It’s also the latest in a string of progressive LGBTI policies out of California, including bills for senior citizens and beyond.
More from Gay Star News
A new report from Human Rights Watch reveals traumas of unnecessary surgeries on intersex children
California becomes first state to recognize LGBTI military veterans
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