The Intersex and Family Support Network serves the families of intersex people, parents and babies, children, teenagers, and particularly intersex adults.
The Intersex and Family Support Network – Jacob(y) – Rede de Apoio à Pessoa Intersexo e Família – Jacob(y) – was created after Thais Emilia; mother of an intersex baby named Jacob, who needed to be brought to São Paulo to address a congenital heart problem, however, the child ended up dying. With the network, Thais sought out core teams of caregivers (doctors and psychologists) who had in common the defense and promotion of the physical and psychological integrity of intersex babies. From this network, it was possible to accept the demands of intersex people who were unaware of their access rights to health. Some request assistance because they had sequelae from non-consensual genital surgeries they suffered in the past, or even because they lived with rare diseases that had to come to centers with more health equipment. Most of them are sent to São Paulo (Brazil) to continue treatments with specialists. The visits were made in person or remotely, especially in the last seven months due to the pandemic. This network has a partnership with ABRAI and UNIFESP, especially psychologist Dr. Mariana Telles Silveira, endocrinologist Dr. Magnus R. Dias da Silva and pediatric surgeon Dr. Mila Torii.
Associacao Brasileira de Intersexos (ABRAI) was formed in 2015 from a group of intersex people with the mission of bringing visibility, informing, educating, and supporting intersex people and families.
ABRAI was formed in 2015 from a group of intersex people with the mission of bringing visibility, informing, educating, and supporting intersex people and families. They do advocacy work towards the Municipal Health Secretariat of São Paulo and the National Council of Justice; awareness–raising work with internet lives, webinar and intersex conferences; and community–building and support by funding social actions.
On June 15, 2020, ABRAI- Brazilian Intersex Association was regularized through CNPJ 37.408.495 / 0001-00. ABRAI arises from the initiative of several Intersex activists and allies to the cause. Shay, Amiel, Alex, Haru, Ernesto, Dionne and Jéssica talk about the need for formal representation, initially called UBI – União Brasileira Intersexo. Thais, as the mother of an Intersex baby, sought an association when Jacob was born and did not find it, she also feels the need for an association. Thus, different activists and an intersex mother in the same cause create ABRAI – Associação Brasileira Intersexo.
Annie Gonzaga is a black, lesbian, mother who grew up in the favela in Salvador Bahia, known as one of the most racist and most dangerous cities for LBTQ people in the world.
Annie Gonzaga is a black, lesbian, mother who grew up in the favela in Salvador Bahia, known as one of the most racist and most dangerous cities for LBTQ people in the world. She is a practitioner of Candomblé and lives in the outskirts of Salvador. About her creative practice, Annie states, “I have been resisting and practicing survival for the last 500 years through all my ancestors who have preceded me.” She began to draw at a young age in response to the overt policing of her community and the violence that surrounded her. Annie states, “through art I can understand myself as whole. I can’t publicly assume my religious identity because the public space is dangerous, nor leave my lesbianism locked in the closet because I can suffer lesbophobia on the street, much less undress my color, to finally be accepted, loved and then love myself. These are identities that are with me all the time and in everything I do. And through artivism I could see myself. To create an epistemology, through our ancestral heritages, is to glimpse the Afrofuturist black identity, diasporic utopia re-cognizing our cosmologies and identities. And all this is what I try to express in my art whether on paper or on a wall.”
