Intersex Greece is a nationwide collective of intersex adults, parents of intersex children, supportive individuals and related professionals located in Greece. Intersex Greece has at its helm a coordinating team of adult intersex individuals and parents of intersex children, being framed by inclusive and valuable partners. Aims and objectives of our team are to provide specialized, peer-to-peer support to intersex people and their families, to provide support, training and information on all issues related to the natural diversity of sex characteristics (intersex physiology), while working for visibility and intersex community building, raising awareness, promoting and safeguarding the rights of intersex people in our country, and – consequently – abroad.

Overall, we want to create/ spread awareness, reliable knowledge and social inclusion for the intersex physiology, so to be legally recognized by the Greek State and laws for what it really is: a natural state of human beings, that should be having equal rights with men/women. Today in our country – and not only here – due to gender norms and stereotypes, natural intersex physiology is still treated by a significant portion of the medical world and the public as a “pathology that needs to be medically normalized.” However, the personal testimonies and life-experiences of intersex people in Greece and in the world, testify, in multiple ways, that in most cases these unnecessary medical interventions had traumatic and unpleasant consequences on their bodies and psyche. In July 2022 (after months of cooperating with the Greek Ministry of Health), Intersex Greece accomplished one of its most important statutory goals: the legal protection of intersex children from the abusive “normalization” procedures that had been harassing and stigmatizing them, often for life. The Articles 17 to 20 (PART C – CHANGE OF SEX CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERSEX CHILDREN) in Law 4958/2022 (Official Gazette A 142 – 21.07. 2022) of the bill on “Reforms in medically assisted reproduction” now prohibit unnecessary medical operations and procedures that used to be carried out on intersex children under 15 years of age with a purpose of changing their sex characteristics for social and/or aesthetic reasons. The present law may not solve all the rights’ violations suffered by intersex persons in Greece, but it is an excellent starting point to ensure the well-being and the free development of intersex children, for it recognizes their right to bodily integrity, thus confirming that Intersex Rights are Human Rights. Our struggles continue…