intersex

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A step back for human rights in Europe as Hungary outlaws legal gender recognition

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On May 19, the Hungarian Parliament voted 133 in favour, 57 opposed, to approve an omnibus bill which prohibits the legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people in Hungary.

Article 33 of the omnibus bill requires that the national registry of birth, marriages and deaths records an individual’s “birth sex” (“születési nem”) and that this designation can no longer be changed at a later date. Therefore, once an individual’s “sex at birth” is recorded, it cannot be amended, and will be reflected on all their identification documents.

This move, as several international human rights bodies have pointed out, including the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Parliament, and the United Nations Special Procedures, contravenes international human rights standards. 

As the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity Víctor Madrigal-Borloz has stated, “Everyone has the right to recognition as a person before the law, including persons of diverse gender identities”. He added “Paradoxically, at a time when the pandemic is showing the importance of enacting gender recognition processes, the Hungarian Government is introducing legislation that would do precisely the contrary.”

This legal change puts trans people - already facing a hostile environment in Hungary - at further risk. Lack of access to legal gender recognition is a violation of the right to private and family life, impacts access to vital services, and exposes trans and intersex people to stigma, discrimination and violence in almost all aspects of their daily life.

The latest edition of the European Fundamental Rights Agency’s LGBTI Survey, published last week, shows that 76% of trans Hungarians believe that the Hungarian government “definitely does not effectively combat prejudice and intolerance against LGBTI people”, compared to an EU-28 average of only 38%.  In addition, 84% of trans respondents in Hungary reported that the main reason for increasing prejudice, intolerance, or violence in the country was “Negative stance and discourse by politicians and/or political parties”. 21% of intersex Hungarians believe that barriers to legal gender recognition are their biggest obstacle. Furthermore, when the "sex" marker cannot be changed, this could increase the pressure on parents of intersex children and their doctors to perform non-consented surgeries and other interventions on intersex infants and children, a practice which is universally condemned in the international human rights law framework as torture, cruel or inhumane treatment, or harmful practice.

APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights Chair Crispin Blunt MP stated, “That Hungary seems determined to remove the rights of an already vulnerable community is cruel enough, but it is particularly shocking that the Hungarian government has taken this regressive step in the middle of a global pandemic. The international community must take immediate action to ensure the rights of all Hungarian citizens, including those who are trans or intersex, are upheld. The APPG will be writing to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to raise this concerning issue."

Vice-chair Stewart McDonald MP added, “Such a brazen assault on human rights should be universally condemned, but we should also use this to spur us into reaching out to those targeted by this decision, whether at home or abroad. The assault on LGBT rights is a coordinated, global effort. The fight back must be too.”

The APPG on Global LGBT+ Rights stands with trans and intersex people in Hungary. We support Hungarian civil society as they call the President of the Republic János Áder asking him to send the law for review to the Constitutional Court, and call upon the international community to take action to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be used as a cover to further roll back the human rights of the most marginalised in our society. We call on the UK Government, as co-chair of the Equal Rights Coalition, to show global leadership on this issue and work bilaterally to promote and protect trans and intersex people’s rights. Trans and intersex people in Hungary must not be denied their human rights. 

First ever dedicated debate on LBT+ Women's Health Inequalities to take place in House of Commons

On Tuesday 10 March 2020, there will be a Commons debate on Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Women’s Health Inequalities, to mark LBT Women’s Health Week. The subject for debate was determined by the Backbench Business Committee, and will be led by APPG LGBT+ Chair Crispin Blunt and member Hannah Bardell MP. It is the first time this subject has received a dedicated debate in the House of Commons, having last been last addressed back in 2014 in the House of Lords, led by our Vice-Chair Baroness Barker.

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Celebrating Intersex Awareness Day

Intersex Awareness Day - Insta .png

Today is Intersex Awareness Day!

We must ensure the basic human rights, bodily autonomy, physical integrity, and self-determination of intersex people are upheld.

Earlier this year, APPG LGBT+ Vice-Chair Baroness Barker raised intersex/VSC issues in the UK Parliament for the very first time. She has also written to call for the UK to ensure its equalities legislation protects the human rights of VSC intersex people and that unnecessary surgeries are banned on intersex infants.

Want to learn more about intersex/variations of sex characteristics?

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Baroness Barker: The UK should protect the rights of people with Variations of Sex Characteristics and ban unnecessary surgeries on VSC children

Our Vice-Chair Baroness Barker has written for Openly on the rights of people with Variations of Sex Characteristics.

The United Kingdom should protect the rights of people with Variations of Sex Characteristics and ban unnecessary surgeries on VSC children

Baroness Barker is the LGBT+ spokeswoman in the House of Lords for the British Liberal Democrat party

Variations of sex characteristics (VSC) intersex is an umbrella termed that describes people born with bodies that do not fit the typical definitions of male or female. There are no reliable statistics on how many VSC intersex people exist, but one thing is certain – they have no legal protection.

For many decades, infants born with VSC intersex have undergone surgery to align their bodies with the sex their parents deem most appropriate. Some parents consent to these invasive procedures on medical advice when under pressure to register the birth.

Often when people hit puberty it becomes apparent that the surgery was either merely cosmetic or caused pain and suffering, which can often endure for many years.

People who are VSC intersex describe what happens to them as infant genital mutilation (IGM). Many suffer life-long health problems and many cannot trust health professionals, finding any involvement with the NHS so traumatic that they avoid contact until any illness they have becomes intolerable.

Earlier this year, in its sixth report on Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the UN Committee Against Torture made two main recommendations.

First, that the parents or guardians of intersex children receive impartial counselling services and psychological and social support, including information about deferring any decision on unnecessary treatment until they can be carried out with the full, free and informed consent of the person concerned.

Second, that anyone who has been subjected to such procedures without their consent and which result in severe pain and suffering, should be able to obtain redress, including the means for rehabilitation.

Medical professionals often justify their advocacy of paediatric surgery by arguing that VSC intersex children will be laughed at in school. These days, when safeguarding schoolchildren of all ages is taken seriously and excellent initiatives such as the NSPCC’s Talking PANTS rules are available to protect the bodily integrity of all children – particularly from sexual abuse – such arguments seem weak.

I have listened to VSC intersex people talk about what was done to them and many of the stories are harrowing. While the NHS continues to be happy to perform paediatric surgery, there is no overall care strategy or guidelines for medical practitioners.

Urologists, endocrinologists, emergency medicine practitioners receive no training and have no specialists to whom they can turn for advice. VSC intersex patients give examples of inappropriate questioning or being made to feel like freaks – that is simply inexcusable.

This year, the government conducted a call for evidence about the needs of VSC intersex people and the results of this will be known shortly.

This week, I am asking a question in the House of Lords, the British upper house of parliament, about the protection of the human rights of VSC intersex people of all ages. They experience discrimination in many ways, in employment, education, sports and access to public services.

The government could address many of these issues by strengthening equality law in the area of protection of sex characteristics.

Other countries, most notably Malta, have changed their equalities legislation to protect the human rights of VSC intersex people. Moreover, the government of Malta, which included amongst its ministers a paediatric surgeon, made surgical intervention on children (or IGM) illegal.

The nations of the United Kingdom should do likewise without delay.

Intersex/VSC Issues raised in the UK Parliament for the first time

On Monday 9 September, APPG Vice Chair Baroness Barker raised intersex issues for the first time in the UK Parliament, asking an oral question on what the government is doing to uphold the rights of all intersex VSC people in the UK.

Peers raised the issue of unnecessary surgery on intersex infants and children, the lack of data surrounding intersex people and the types of interventions performed in NHS hospitals, the need to update the Equality Act 2010 to include variations of sex characteristics, the importance of ensuring appropriate training and awareness raising on intersex issues for health professionals and public officials, including legislators, the judiciary and policymakers, as well as parents and the general public, and the need for more child and adolescent psychiatrists with expertise on intersex issues.

You can watch the video.

You can read the full transcript from Hansard.