by Jason Ball, Head of Grant-making at GiveOut
This year’s UN Human Rights Council resolution on intersex rights marks a watershed moment in the global fight for dignity and bodily autonomy. It presents a significant opportunity to accelerate the work of intersex activists worldwide. But without increased support, and in the face of a well-funded anti-rights movement, progress could stall.
The resolution, the first of its kind for the United Nations, passed in April and affirms the rights of intersex people, calling on Member States to combat discrimination, violence, and harmful practices. It also urges governments to address the root causes of discrimination—stereotypes, misconceptions, stigma, and taboo—and to ensure intersex individuals enjoy the highest attainable standard of health.
Intersex activists have been the driving force behind much of the global change we’ve seen in recent years. At GiveOut, our mission is to grow giving to support LGBTQI rights, and the Intersex Human Rights Fund (IHRF) is the key mechanism through which we support intersex-led activism. The IHRF provides critical resources to empower activists and organisations worldwide, enabling them to push for legislative and social change despite powerful opposition.
In 2023, the IHRF distributed grants to 62 intersex-led organisations in 48 countries, including many in the Global South. From Latin America to Africa, intersex groups are securing important legal victories and raising crucial awareness.
For instance, in Chile, Intersexuales Chile successfully advocated for regulations, implemented in November 2023, that prohibit unnecessary and non-consensual surgeries on intersex children. Through workshops, educational materials, and persistent advocacy with policymakers, the group helped establish some of the most advanced legal protections for intersex individuals in Latin America.
Important victories have also been won in Africa, such as in Botswana, where a constitutional amendment protecting intersex individuals from discrimination was passed in March this year. Similarly, the Intersex Persons Society of Kenya has been instrumental in advocating for anti-discrimination protections, with a new law passed in 2022 granting equal rights and recognition to intersex people in the country. Meanwhile, in Europe, countries including Greece and Iceland have banned non-consensual surgeries on intersex infants, and Germany introduced a third gender option on birth certificates in 2019.
However, these successes have been achieved against enormous odds. According to the Global Philanthropy Project, intersex organisations receive less than 1% of global LGBTQI funding, leaving many reliant on volunteers and struggling to survive. Without greater financial support, the progress made by intersex activists risks stalling.
The need for funding is particularly urgent given the rise of well-funded anti-rights movements. A 2021 report by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) revealed that anti-gender groups receive more than triple the funding of LGBTQI movements. This financial imbalance fuels anti-LGBTQI activism, especially in the Global South, where activists face hostile legal environments and restricted access to foreign funding.
At the heart of the anti-rights agenda is a fundamental hypocrisy. Anti-LGBTQI campaigners argue against transgender individuals’ rights to access gender-affirming care, claiming to “protect children.” Yet, these same voices remain silent—or worse, supportive—when it comes to non-consensual surgeries on intersex infants. These surgeries, aimed at “normalising” bodies to fit binary sex categories, can have lifelong consequences, including loss of sexual function and fertility, and are performed on children too young to consent. This contradiction highlights an agenda that prioritises rigid gender norms over bodily autonomy.
Two landmark publications have also brought new momentum to the fight for intersex rights this year. A World Health Organization (WHO) systematic review published in August found that most “sex-normalising” surgeries on intersex children were based on unevidenced rationales focused on cosmetic outcomes or alleviating parental distress rather than health concerns. For the first time, WHO staff called for action to end these procedures. Another significant study in the American Journal of Bioethics argued that all children should be equally protected from medically unnecessary, non-consensual genital surgeries, underscoring the importance of bodily integrity and sexual autonomy.
These scientific papers, along with the UN resolution, offer an opportunity to accelerate change. Together, they provide activists with credible evidence and an authoritative mandate to advocate for better protections for intersex people. The IHRF has been pivotal in advancing intersex rights, but it cannot do this alone. Now is the time to act. By supporting intersex-led activism with increased funding, we can ensure that the hard-fought progress achieved so far translates into lasting, systemic change.
We call on individuals, businesses, foundations, and governments globally to step up and provide the funding necessary to support intersex-led activism. Intersex rights are human rights, and it is up to all of us to ensure that intersex activists have the resources and support they need to continue driving this crucial movement forward.