12 min read
This article is more than 1 year old
The 'I' in LGBTIQ+: What it's like to be intersex in Australia
Many Australians might not think they know anyone who is intersex, but that may be because they've been told to keep quiet about their diagnosis since they were children.
Published 25 February 2023 7:46am
By Charis Chang
Source: SBS News
Image: Gabrielle Colliver with the intersex flag. (Supplied)
Gabrielle Colliver was studying for her HSC when she got a diagnosis that doctors said would change her life, and left her feeling isolated and confused.
At the age of 17, she was told she was 'intersex' and that was the reason she hadn't yet started her periods.
"I was in the middle of starting year 12 so it was pretty full on, and there was a lot of pressure to have an operation really soon to get rid of certain things," she says.
People in Australia may be familiar with the word intersex through its inclusion as the 'I' in LGBTIQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer and other communities), but may not understand what it really means.
Intersex people can include those born with hormonal, chromosomal or anatomical variations of sex characteristics that do not align with social or medical norms for male or female bodies.
It is also known as having Differences in Sex Development (DSD) or Variations in Sex Characteristics (VSC).
And while someone who is intersex can display physical differences at birth, including both male and female reproductive organs, others may not realise they are intersex until they are older.
Gabrielle Colliver was advised to keep her diagnosis a secret. Source: Supplied
The 35-year-old says she wishes she had been given more time to process the information and had waited until after she finished high school to undergo any procedures "because it really did affect my mental health, mostly because it was so secret".
"I wasn't allowed to tell anyone because I would be deemed a freak," she says.
"I couldn't tell my brother or my sister, or any of my friends."
I wasn't allowed to tell anyone because I would be deemed a freak.- Gabrielle Colliver
Like many people who are intersex in Australia, the Melbourne resident was advised to have surgery and says she was told if she didn't act, she would be at risk of cancer. She only found out later the risk was similar to that of taking the birth control pill.
But in the past, surgeries were often done for cosmetic reasons, to make genitalia look more male or female, and not to treat a medical problem.
Some intersex people have had procedures performed on them when they were babies or children, such as a reduction in the size of the clitoris or an increase in the size of the vagina. Because this happens before a person is old enough to be able to consent, this is something that advocates are now trying to change.
Critics say there is also no evidence the procedures help children "fit in".
A version of the pride flag that incorporates the intersex flag, consisting of a yellow triangle with a purple circle in it. Source: Getty / Mike Kemp/In Pictures
"There's also the mental harm that can be affected to people from having the loss of autonomy, so not being given the ability to decide what happens to your own body."
"In the most extreme case, you might have gender misassignment, that is, you've given a child testosterone or estrogen because you've assumed that they are going to be identifying as male or female when they're older."
Gabrielle says as an adult, dating was never an issue; she had never had a problem with attracting men and is now married and a mother.
But, she says, she has faced stereotyping and uncomfortable comments, including from those in the medical industry.
Gabrielle with her husband and child. Source: Supplied
"There's just a lot of putting my bits in a box."
It is unclear exactly how many people in Australia are intersex as the Census doesn't specifically record it.
In the 2021 Census, around 0.17 per cent of the population (43,220) said they were "non-binary" when asked about their sex, a term used to indicate people don't conform to traditional ideas of being exclusively male or female. But the Australian Bureau of Statistics notes this could not be used as a measure for people with variations of sex characteristics as people had different interpretations of what it meant.
Gabrielle says it's amazing that the intersex community in Australia is recognised as part of the broader LGBTIQ+ community, but this isn't always the case in other countries.
"We're obviously not trans[gender], but we can be, it's totally different from gender and sexuality," she says.
"In the LGBTIQ community, everyone is accepting and warm, which is wonderful and you just want the same for the general everyday person who you'll bump into."
The damaging legacy of surgery
The intersex community in Australia has a difficult history to deal with.
Antoinette (Tony) Briffa, 52, had her first surgeries when she was just a baby and had further procedures that included the removal of healthy gonads (glands that help produce reproductive hormones like estrogen and testosterone).
She describes the treatments as "horrible ... inappropriate, irreversible treatments that were not medically required and certainly weren't done in my best interests or in the best interests of my health".
Tony Briffa is critical of intersex babies and children being forced to undergo surgeries. Source: Supplied / Charis Chang
Like Gabrielle, Tony says she was advised by her doctors not to talk about being intersex, and procedures often happened during school holidays.
"There's all the secrecy and shame that they put on you by being different, and they tell you [to keep] everything a secret," she says.
Tony says frequent medical examinations occurred with many people in the room during which they were "basically treating me like a freak".
"All of that has had a profound impact on me ... it's quite traumatic."
There's all the secrecy and shame that they put on you by being different.- Tony Briffa
Tony, who is co-chair of the Victorian Government's intersex expert advisory group, says surgeries are still happening and legislation is needed to stop doctors from performing non-urgent procedures without consent.
"Pre-mid-1990s the doctors may have thought that what they were doing was in the best interest of the children; they can't be saying that now," she says.
A spokesperson for The Royal Children’s Hospital (RSH) in Melbourne says it provides individualised clinical care for children with intersex conditions or DSD.
"Decisions around management of children with complex variations are made with input from a multidisciplinary team of expert clinicians as well as the child’s parents. This model of care is in line with international best practice," they said.
"The RCH acknowledges that current practice at the RCH, like other paediatric hospitals worldwide, has significantly progressed over the past two to three decades, informed by medical research and input from people with lived experience and advocacy groups.
"Currently, surgery is only undertaken at the RCH after comprehensive multidisciplinary review, taking into account the best available clinical research, agreed standards of international best practice, and with the full consent of the parents or the patient."
The spokesperson says the hospital has been an active participant in state and national reviews of models of care.
Where each state stands on intersex surgery
The Australian Human Rights Commission in October 2021, urged all Australian governments to implement measures to prevent harmful medical interventions on intersex people without personal consent.
"Decisions about these procedures have often been made based on prevailing social attitudes and the available research base – both of which have changed in important ways over recent years," the commission said.
The commission recommended medical interventions on children only be conducted if there was a medical necessity. It also suggested independent panels be established to decide on procedures for those aged under 18 years.
Mr Kassisieh says the nature of decisions around surgery are incredibly personal and each person may have a different way of calculating the risks. For example, if the choice was between a risk of cancer, or the loss of fertility, each person would have a different way of weighing these up and deciding on the risk they were willing to take.
Leaving the decision up to a panel would also be beneficial for parents who may feel pressured to agree to surgeries, while also protecting clinicians if their recommendations are supported.
"Overall it gives more transparency to how these decisions are being made," he says.
So far in Australia, only Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) have taken action on legislation to restrict medical interventions.
In Victoria, Equality Australia was engaged to consult with stakeholders on a legal framework and there is hope it will move forward.
Mr Kassisieh says the ACT was even further ahead and had already put out a , with a final bill expected early this year.
While the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute has also made recommendations for a scheme and other states have expressed interest in the issue, no further commitments have been made.
"We would call on all states and territories to look at this issue, and take it forward and implement their own schemes," Mr Kassisieh says.
A NSW Government spokesperson says NSW Health welcomed intersex consultation during the development of its LGBTIQ+ Health Strategy 2022-2027, which was launched in March last year.
The strategy acknowledged there was a need for greater awareness of the Darlington Statement, which sets out priorities for intersex human rights including the banning of deferrable medical interventions, across the NSW Health system.
"The NSW Government is committed to supporting our LGBTIQ people and communities across NSW," the spokesperson said. "There is still more work to do."
'We are just people'
Gabrielle says being intersex doesn't have to be as "hyped up" as she believes some of her doctors made it.
"The doctors always told me all these things that I would never be able to do; I probably wouldn't be able to have children - and now I've got a little boy and we're actually expecting our second," she says.
She says there needed to be better mental health services for people who are intersex and more support for them to raise a family through the use of IVF, for example.
"Going through IVF, I had no idea what I was doing," she says.
"We had to apply for a police check and working with children's check as well, which is a bit of a downer."
Gabrielle Colliver is now expecting her second child. Source: Supplied
But Gabrielle, who is an artist contributing to - a publication that shares the voices of young intersex people - says being intersex is a beautiful thing that is part of her body.
"You can just live your life how you want, and I think you just need to be empowered by that."
Despite her challenges, Tony has managed to build a successful career, been elected to Hobsons Bay City Council in Victoria four times, and was recently voted mayor for the second time.
"You read unfortunately on Twitter all sorts of horrible things about us being an abomination or a defect, but look at me, I'm a very successful person," she says.
Tony, who is married to a woman, says she didn't expect to have a relationship or children but has been married for almost 10 years and was also a foster carer.
Tony Briffa with her son and granddaughter. Source: Supplied
Tony says many people choose not to go public about being intersex because they tended to be treated with suspicion afterwards.
"Like you're no longer really a man, or you're no longer really a female or a woman, that you're somehow something else, and that's not right," she says.
"I just accept the way that I am ... I'm a person or a woman with a sex variation and that's it."
An intersex art exhibition hosted by YOUth&I will be held during the Sydney WorldPride Human Rights Conference between 1-3 March.
LGBTIQ+ Australians seeking support with mental health can contact QLife on 1800 184 527 or visit . also has a list of support services.
Would you like to share your story with SBS News? Email
