Tony Briffa is a Co-executive Director of Organisation Intersex International (OII) Australia and Vice-President of the AIS Support Group Australia

Intersex people are very diverse. Like the rest of society, some of us are lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans. But most of us are straight.

Most of us never experienced any gender confusion and are happy in the sex we’re raised. But many intersex people don’t learn they’re intersex until they reach adolescence. Only a small portion of intersex people are born with any obvious genital variations.

In my case I was born with a mostly female body but with internal testes and the typical male chromosome pattern. I was raised as a girl which I was mostly ok with.

Unfortunately, the doctors treating me at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne decided to reinforce the sex I was being raised through any surgical and hormonal means possible. This meant removing my healthy testes – and any chance of being a biological parent – when I was seven.

They also subjected me to many repeated genital examinations treating me like a freak.

This mistreatment had a huge negative impact on me that still impacts me today. Read more via Gay Star News