Insights
My Journey: Founding Intersex Thailand, Forging a Path for Intersex Rights
As I reflect on Intersex Awareness Day, 26 October 2024, I’m struck by how it also marks the third anniversary of Intersex Thailand. This milestone offers a moment to look back on my personal journey—a path of small but unwavering steps I’ve taken over the past three years alongside my two co-founders. My story is one of resilience, facing numerous challenges and obstacles, yet also savoring the small victories that have ignited our determination.
As an intersex individual myself, my personal experiences have profoundly shaped my advocacy work. Growing up, I faced numerous challenges in understanding and accepting my own body, often feeling isolated and misunderstood. These experiences fueled my determination to create a support system and advocate for others like me, ensuring that no intersex person in Thailand would have to navigate these challenges alone.
My experiences have taught me that being intersex isn’t solely about sex characteristics; it intersects with sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE). This intersectionality forms a core part of our human identity and advocacy approach. It is a realization that has deeply influenced both my personal growth and our organizational strategy.
Returning to Thailand after completing an LLM in International Human Rights Law as a Chevening Scholar, the idea of forming an intersex organization had been percolating in my mind. The catalyst came from knowing three other intersex individuals working in human rights and sexual health. It took six months of deliberation with my first co-founder, both of us lawyers with demanding workloads, before we decided to act.
In 2021, with support from the United Nations Development Program, we launched our intersex organization on Intersex Awareness Day. Our initial mission was to serve the public interest of intersex individuals and communities in Thailand. I remember the mix of excitement and trepidation as we started our Facebook page, aiming to educate Thai society about rights related to sex characteristics. Then, when I decided to conduct the first-ever research on the intersex human rights situation in Thailand, I realized the enormity of the work needed to improve intersex livelihood in this country. It became clear that this was an impossible fight to undertake alone. This realization was the seed that would eventually grow into Intersex Thailand.
My research led me to explore the broader societal perceptions of intersex individuals in Thailand. Contrary to what many might think, intersex issues in Thailand aren’t entirely taboo. I remember watching a notable documentary that showcased a young intersex person who underwent nonconsensual “sex correction” surgery, orchestrated by their mother and a doctor attempting to scientifically “prove” the individual’s gender identity. The positive public reception to this documentary initially led me to believe that Thai society was free from interphobia, or at least more accepting of intersex individuals compared to other gender and sexual minorities.
However, this assumption proved to be overly optimistic. As I delved deeper into my research, I discovered a more complex landscape where intersex individuals remain largely invisible. I noticed that public curiosity about diverse sex characteristics often devolved into inappropriate fascination with genital appearance, rather than focusing on crucial issues such as psychosocial support and legal protections. This realization strengthened my resolve to make a difference.
The journey has not been without its challenges. Initially, we operated without resources, relying on in-kind work and personal finances. This approach offered freedom but also limitations. I often found myself juggling my advocacy work with personal commitments, questioning if our voluntary efforts alone could achieve our ambitious goals.
A pivotal moment in my journey came during the Third Asian Intersex Forum. Co-hosting with Intersex Asia and presenting our draft law to various stakeholders, I felt an unprecedented surge of confidence in our mission. Our core team - Priest, Pakwilai, and I - found strength in unity. Connecting with regional intersex communities reinforced that we were never alone. This solidarity became my strength, propelling me forward in our advocacy for intersex people’s rights in Thailand. To keep this momentum, we began developing a comprehensive legal gender recognition and sex characteristics protection law, inspired by Malta’s legislation. This was a challenging but rewarding process, as we sought to create a framework that could truly protect and empower intersex individuals in Thailand.
The decision to accept our first-ever funding from Intersex Asia this year, marked a significant turning point in both my personal journey and the organization’s trajectory. Though modest, this grant enabled us to conduct our inaugural team building session.
This exercise served a dual purpose. It not only helped us solidify our future direction but also crystalized our core value and goal: to end interphobia. We envisioned a world where intersex individuals are recognized equally as human beings—neither extraordinary nor monstrous, just equal members of society. This grant and the subsequent team building marked a turning point, propelling us from passionate volunteers to a more structured organization with the potential for greater impact and consistency in our advocacy efforts.
As Intersex Thailand enters its fourth year, I am reminded of why our work is so necessary as I reflect on how the cases of women boxers, Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, facing interphobia and transphobia during the Paris Olympic Games, deeply affected me, reinforcing the urgency of our work. I find myself at the helm of an organization poised for strategic growth. Our focus is on expanding our movement while forging crucial connections with diverse stakeholders. A key objective is to demonstrate that any work on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer, asexual, and nonbinary issues, must include the “I” - not just in theory, but in practise. We are committed to leading by example, showing others how to truly “walk the talk.”
To kickstart this new phase, we are launching our inaugural campaign: “Intersex Universe”. This initiative aims to educate Thai society about the fundamental truth that individuals born with diverse innate sex characteristics are, first and foremost, human beings. We deserve the same respect and human rights protections afforded to all. Through “Intersex Universe”, we hope to foster a deeper, more nuanced understanding of intersex experiences.
Looking back, I realize that my journey with Intersex Thailand has been transformative. From those initial days of uncertainty to now leading our inaugural campaign, every step has been a learning experience. The pressing need in Thailand for legislation that prevents harmful medical interventions, and upholds the rights of intersex individuals to grow and make autonomous choices about their bodies, has become increasingly clear to me. We advocate for physical integrity and bodily autonomy as fundamental legal rights.
The journey to shift societal focus from invasive curiosity to meaningful support and legal safeguards is challenging, but essential. It is a path that requires persistent education, advocacy, and a reimagining of how Thai society views and supports its intersex community. As I move forward, I am not just advocating for intersex rights; I am working toward a broader societal transformation. Each step forward, no matter how modest, brings us closer to a more inclusive and understanding society. Our goal is to shift perceptions, challenge stereotypes, and create a more inclusive society that recognizes and celebrates the full spectrum of human diversity. As we move forward, we are not just advocating for intersex rights; we’re working toward a broader societal transformation, one where the “I” in LGBTIQAN+ (including nonbinary people) is fully understood, respected, and integrated into all aspects of human rights and social justice work in Thailand.
This journey, which began with my personal realization of the challenges faced by the intersex community in Thailand, has grown into a mission that I hope will create lasting change for generations to come. The road ahead is long, but with each small victory, each mind we change, and each right we secure, we move closer to our vision of a truly inclusive Thailand.
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