{"id":124,"date":"2019-08-07T19:43:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T18:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.nfshost.com\/?p=124"},"modified":"2019-08-07T21:42:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T20:42:35","slug":"theres-no-i-in-lgbt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/07\/theres-no-i-in-lgbt\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s no I in LGBT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve been asked to comment on intersex inclusion in the\nLGBT+ umbrella, so here goes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to say off the bat, I don\u2019t really understand it\non a personal level. I\u2019m a straight woman who does not have gender identity\nissues. I\u2019ve struggled with understanding my body in the past and how being unable\nto conceive changes some of my interactions with society, but I\u2019m generally a\nbit gender non-conforming anyway, and I\u2019m perfectly comfortable with that. My sex\nand romantic life are pretty much unremarkable. MRKH can have practical\nimplications for that, but it\u2019s not something I feel the need to have a parade\nabout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to wear a t-shirt, telling the world I was born\nwithout a womb. Not because I\u2019m ashamed but because it\u2019s personal. No one else feels\nthe need to introduce themselves with a description of their genitalia and an\nupdate on their fertility status. I\u2019m not \u201cqueer\u201d. I could be described as\nquirky or awkward, I guess, but you should meet some of my friends, to be honest.\nI\u2019ve always been around the quirky and awkward crowd. I don\u2019t consider myself\nin need of a label for it. It\u2019s personality, innit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, being a straight, \u201ccis\u201d woman with a DSD makes\nthe LGBT+ world seem inaccessible at times. My sexuality and identity are frowned\nupon for being heteronormative. I grew up fancying boys and hoping to be a mum\none day. I\u2019m the antithesis of all thing\u2019s LGBT+. My experience is not like\nanyone else in that group. I\u2019m only a sexual minority if you count being unable\nto conceive as a sexual minority, which would put every infertile person under\nthat big ol\u2019 umbrella too. See how we don\u2019t do that because it\u2019s weird and\nunnecessary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early days of intersex advocacy, some activists<\/a> saw their place as being part of the disability rights movement. This makes sense to me as an adult with a DSD. The place where I\u2019ve experienced the most difficulty with MRKH is in a medical setting. Either by not having my medical needs met adequately, because doctors are unaware of MRKH and its other health implications due to its rarity, or in my poor understanding of my own medical condition and body. I could have done with some help with that in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would have been useful to have been offered some form of\ncounselling upon diagnosis, where I could have gone back and asked questions\nonce information had been absorbed and I wanted to talk through the thoughts\nand feelings I had. It would also have been nice to have had some continuing\naccess to that throughout life, as my feelings and questions change. One of my\nfavourites right now is \u201cwhat will menopause look like for me?\u201d. I may not be\nthere yet, but I\u2019d like to understand that so, unlike puberty, this time I know\nmy body and what it\u2019s doing. I don\u2019t see LGBT+ inclusion doing anything to help\nme with that or even acknowledge that these may be issues for intersex people.\nWhy would they? It\u2019s mundane, sticking a rainbow on it isn\u2019t going to improve\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I similarly have issues with including babies and children\nunder the LGBT+ umbrella. I can\u2019t imagine anything more inappropriate than describing\na new-born intersex child as \u201cqueer\u201d to their parents. \u201cCongratulations, your\nchild is smashing gender norms\u201d adds nothing to the conversation. Not when the\nparent is trying to understand what doctors are telling them and make complex\ndecisions about medical interventions. Arguably, this does nothing to help prevent\nunnecessary surgeries as parents are denied the ability to access the information\nthey need to make alternative choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brings me on to one more point that I hate about the LGBT+ inclusion; being tone policed for the way I talk about MRKH. There\u2019s nothing more frustrating than being told that I\u2019m \u201cpathologizing\u201d my own medical condition. I\u2019m going to explain this simply. To pathologize means to \u201cview or characterize as medically or psychologically abnormal<\/a>\u201d. I am perfectly comfortable acknowledging that my reproductive tract isn\u2019t normal, in as much as it\u2019s not typical. If this were not the case, no one would have noticed my lack of periods and no doctor would have investigated. I wouldn\u2019t have been diagnosed with MRKH and I wouldn\u2019t be here writing this blog. I would love MRKH to be studied and understood better. Compared to some DSDs, we\u2019re lacking quite a bit in that department. If that means I\u2019m pathologizing myself, fine, pathologize the shit out of it. Make the world better for the next generation of MRKH girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s not like I don\u2019t understand maybe how or why we got here. One of the first intersex activists, Bo Laurent<\/a>, better known as Cheryl Chase, is a lesbian, so naturally felt her campaign for intersex rights worked with her campaign for LGBT+ rights. Also, trans activists have involved themselves with the intersex rights movement from the start<\/a>, such as Riki Anne Wilchins<\/a> who was good friends with Laurent in the early days of campaigning. I\u2019ve discussed the possible motivations<\/a> for this before, so I won\u2019t go into that again here. I sometimes see us as unwilling hostages under the rainbow coloured umbrella, but I can\u2019t deny history nor that some intersex advocates today continue to welcome the inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve spoken to activists at Oii about this, as they are one of the most visible intersex orgs and keen to push LGBT+ inclusion. Their explanation is that they welcome it because they need the funding from trans orgs. Take, for example, Oii\u2019s 2019 European Community Event & Conference<\/a>. This is to be held in Zagreb, Croatia, and is being hosted by TransAid. When I asked about this, I was told that Croatia does not have an intersex org presence and only one person in the country is openly \u201cout\u201d as intersex, so that person relies on TransAid for support (as in office space etc). Having investigated this more carefully, it turns out the intersex person in question is an employee of TransAid. It does make me question, are they really the \u201conly out intersex person\u201d in the whole of Croatia, or are they the only one willing to toe the party line?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t believe intersex people and orgs may welcome the funding from the well oiled trans machine. A report<\/a> from Global Philanthropy Project in 2016 showed that investment in intersex initiatives accounts for only 1% of all global LGBT+ funding. This hardly seems adequate when the LGBT+ umbrella loves to remind everyone that we represent 1.7% of the entire population. I\u2019m going to share a screenshot of their comparative tables here. They really speak for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s not even worth pretending all money earmarked intersex even makes it as far as intersex hands. To take an example close to home, The Equality Network\/Scottish Trans Alliance received funding of \u00a390k over a period of three years<\/a> for an \u201cintersex project\u201d. Although \u00a345k of this funding was first received in 2016<\/a>, by the time of the census consultation last year, the government were told that the project was \u201cstill in its early stages\u201d with nothing to show for it. Even if you visit their website<\/a> now, they happily tell you they\u2019re \u201cnot the experts in the remit of lived experience of being intersex\u201d. Which begs the question where that money has gone, especially when organisations like dsdfamilies<\/a> *are* the experts and struggle for financial support, despite doing amazing work with peer support and information for young people with DSDs and their families. Shamefully, according to this<\/a> FOI request, it would seem the Scottish govt don\u2019t even know they exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, I just don\u2019t really know what we\u2019re doing there, tagged onto the end of the LGBT+. I understand the motivations of others to co-opt us, and I understand that money makes the world go around, but I\u2019m unclear where this has ever actually helped intersex people\/people with DSDs. I feel really sad about the orgs and activists who have sold us out over the years and how they no longer see their path as being one of education and openness, instead selling confusion under the guise of rainbows, glitter and umbrellas to support the identities of others. There\u2019s no real I in the LGBT+. There\u2019s no \u201cintersex culture\u201d that ties us to each other and us to pride. We\u2019re not a sexual or gender minority, nor a monolith. While I hope any intersex person\/person with a DSD would feel welcome under that umbrella, if they are L, G, B or T, you don\u2019t have to include us all. In fact, when you look what it does or doesn\u2019t do for us, I\u2019d rather you didn\u2019t. Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been asked to comment on intersex inclusion in the LGBT+ umbrella, so here goes\u2026 I\u2019m going to say off the bat, I don\u2019t really understand it on a personal level. I\u2019m a straight woman who does not have gender identity issues. I\u2019ve struggled with understanding my body in the past and how being unable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,41],"tags":[30,6],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender","category-intersex","category-lgbt","tag-dsd","tag-intersex","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}