The ACT government has released Australian-first draft legislation which would prevent medical interventions on intersex people without their personal consent.
Under the Variations in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill 2022, a new process would be established which would require information, advice and support to be provided for intersex people and their families when medical treatment is being considered.
Cody Smith, senior project officer at Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA), said the draft legislation was a long time coming.
"I was born with an intersex variation; I actually had my parents decide for me to have numerous surgeries before I turned two ... and I've had to grow up with these medical decisions that were made for me and they're not necessarily decisions that I would agree with," they said.
"When I first started engaging with the intersex community, it was very, very clear to me that this has been a continuous trauma perpetrated against intersex people."
Mx Smith said they hope the ACT's legislation could be used as a model at a national level.
"When we're looking at legislation like this, we're essentially putting intersex people in charge of their own bodies," they said.
"It is a huge relief."
Cody Smith hopes the ACT's new legislation will result in tangible change across Australia. Source: Supplied / Cody Smith
The legislation would still allow medical treatment when the person is seeking a procedure for themselves, or in circumstances such as health emergencies, or if the treatment is easily reversible or does not affect sex characteristics.
It also sets out conditions to be met for informed consent, along with the creation of an independent expert panel to oversee medical treatment plans for intersex children and others who do not have the capacity to consent to necessary treatment.
Morgan Carpenter, bioethicist and executive director of IHRA, described the bill as a "historic moment".
"For more than twenty years, the intersex movement in Australia has sought legal reforms to protect people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings."
"The persistence of so-called 'normalising' interventions, intending to make the bodies of children with intersex variations fit gender stereotypes, has been our most intractable issue."
According to the ACT government, between 1 and 2 per cent of people have variations in sex characteristics.
