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Announcing our 5th Intersex Human Rights Fund grantees!

Published on Oct 26, 2019

On Intersex Awareness Day, we recognize the bold and inspiring leadership of intersex activists, communities, and organizations who fight day in and day out to protect the basic human rights, bodily autonomy, physical integrity, and self-determination of intersex people everywhere. In this fifth grant cycle, we awarded $290,000 in grants to 38 groups in 31 countries.

On Intersex Awareness Day, we recognize the bold and inspiring leadership of intersex activists, communities, and organizations who fight day in and day out to protect the basic human rights, bodily autonomy, physical integrity, and self-determination of intersex people everywhere. Astraea is proud to support many of these activists through our Intersex Human Rights Fund—the first of its kind—which accounts for almost three-quarters (73%) of all grants to intersex organizations in the world.

In this fifth grant cycle, we awarded $290,000 in grants to 38 groups in 31 countries. 31 of those grants were renewals to groups we are committed to supporting over the long-term, while 7 were new grants to organizations we are delighted to build partnerships with! This year several proposals came from more under-represented regions in terms of intersex funding—Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe—demonstrating the growth of grassroots intersex human rights movement-building around the world.

We are excited to see new groups forming all over the world, many as a result of the connections built through incredible activist-led regional movement convenings. Earlier this year, the first African Intersex regional platform—known as the African Intersex Movement—was officially announced during an Africa Intersex Meeting led entirely by intersex activists, with support from Astraea.

Intersex activists are continuing to advocate against the pathologization of intersex bodies and to address issues of violence, social exclusion, and lack of access to quality health care and education. The global intersex movement is calling for protections from human rights violations experienced by intersex children, adolescents and adults across the world.

Some ways in which our grantee partners are leading the charge towards advancing intersex justice are by:

    • Building the leadership of intersex people of color: The Intersex Justice Project (IJP) (Georgia, US), a new grantee partner this year, was formed in 2016 in response to a visible lack of intersex people of color in leadership in the US. In 2017, they launched their #EndIntersexSurgery campaign, protesting the Chicago Lurie Children’s Hospital’s discriminatory and harmful medical practices against intersex children. IJP is dedicated to fighting for the rights of intersex people of color in the U.S., and building alliances with intersex people of color nationally and globally.
    • Creating safe spaces which are inclusive of non-urban intersex communities and indigenous traditions: Based in Tamil Nadu, India, Srishti Madurai’s main mission is to build safe, supportive spaces for gender/sex minorities and their loved ones. Based outside of a major city, Srishti Madurai is committed to bridging the gap between urban and non-urban LGBTQIA+ movements, and ensuring that they are not restricted only to upper-class English speaking members. They also incorporate indigenous Indian traditions in their work, noting that pre-colonial era India was more open to gender and sex minorities. In 2019, Srishti’s founder Gopi Shankar’s work and activism informed a landmark legal victory in which the Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu recognized the marriage rights of trans and intersex women and directed the state to pass a government order banning sex-selective surgeries.
    • Centering intersectionality as a core strategy for fighting oppression: XY Spectrum (Belgrade, Serbia) was founded by trans and intersex activists and is the first organization in Serbia working on intersex rights. They challenge multiple forms of discrimination and work across all gender identities and sexual orientations. XY’s core focus is strengthening trans, intersex, and nonbinary people’s capacities to overcome fear, isolation and trauma through support groups, psycho-social counseling, and establishing better legal, administrative and institutional policies for intersex and trans people in Serbia.

We’re so honored to be supporting these amazing activists! Join us in celebrating their work and read more about it and the work of this global movement, in the links below.


Intersex Fund Grantee Partners*

*Note: We do not publicize a number of our courageous grantee partners because of security threats they face in their local contexts, so organizations may be missing from this list.

Bilitis Resource Center Bulgaria
Bulgaria

Brújula Intersexual
Mexico

Collectif Intersexes et Allié-e-s (CIA)
France

Campaign for Change
Nepal

DeGenderation Confederation
Vietnam

Egalite Intersex Ukraine
Ukraine

Interaction – Association Suisse pour les Intersexes
Switzerland

Intersex and Faith
United States

Intersex Asia Network
Regional

Intersex Community of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Intersex Danmark
Denmark

Intersex Human Rights Australia
Australia

Intersex Island
Iceland

Intersex Justice Project
United States

Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA)
Australia

Intersex Society of Zambia (ISSZ)
Zambia

Intersex South Africa – ISSA
South Africa

Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand (ITANZ)
New Zealand

IntersexUK
United Kingdom

Ivy Foundation
Malawi

Magda Rakita
Poland

Mulabi – Espacio Latinoamericano de Sexualidades y Derechos
Costa Rica

Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII Europe)
Germany

Organisation Intersex International Germany (OII Deutschland)
Germany

Organization Intersex International-Chinese (Oii-Chinese)
Taiwan

Rainbow Identity Association
Botswana

Srishti Madurai LGBTQIA+ Student Volunteer Collective
India

Trans Aid
Croatia

Trans Smart Trust
Zimbabwe

Tzk’at – Red de Sanadoras Ancestrales del Feminismo Comunitario
Guatemala

Verein Intersexuelle Menschen Österreich (VIMÖ)
Austria

Vivir y Ser Intersex
Mexico

XY Spectrum
Serbia

By supporting Astraea, you are creating ecosystems of resistance that are smart, effective, and unique. Join us!

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