“Being intersex is often treated as a medical issue, simply because we’re different.  Just as being male or female is not a medical issue, although there are specific health issues specific to being male or female, neither is being intersex. Intersex people simply have a naturally occurring variation — just like having red hair — and what we most need is to be treated with the same respect and standards of care as everyone else.”

— Hida Viloria, Director, OII-USA

OII United States campaigns against all non-consensual normalization treatments of infants and children that are not medically necessary and favors the right of intersex children to determine their own sex identity once they are capable of communicating it to us.

We do so because scientific and personal evidence has demonstrated that genitalia, chromosomes, hormones and the internal reproductive organs of an infant are not reliable indicators for determining the sex/gender of the child.

We campaign against genital surgeries on intersex infants.

Each intersex child is born with a unique combination of all these factors which makes all sex assignments of infants a mere conjecture. Performing genital surgeries on infants thus runs the risk of irreparably damaging their true identity, which is not yet evident.

We advocate that children be raised in a provisional sex of male or female, with parents being prepared to accept whichever sex identity their children may later choose. Once the child has clearly communicated their sex identity, it is crucial that this identity be respected by parents, as well as physicians and/or therapists, caring for the child. All steps should be taken to respect the child’s sense of self by giving them access to the health care necessary to facilitate life in the sex they consider most appropriate.

We campaign against GID or gender dysphoria for intersex

OII United States campaigns against the diagnosis of gender dysphoria or GID in intersex children and adults who grow up to know they were assigned the wrong sex. We affirm that the true sex of the intersex child or adult is determined by themselves, whom they know themselves to be and that such self-determination, without medical or governmental interference, should be a basic human right.