For the first time in history, the city of Austin will officially recognize Intersex Awareness Day. The formal announcement, which will be made by Austin City Council on October 17, will declare October 26, from this year on, as Intersex Awareness Day.…
“There are alternatives to what society tells you that you have to be,” muses Chicago-based intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis as we discuss their upcoming speaking engagements at LGBTQI+ Health Week at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. The mantra was passed onto them by their aunt—a rebellious woman who defied gender norms long before Pagonis discovered and embraced their own identity. Pagonis’ father, unapologetic in his own right, also taught them that you don’t always have…
Veer Queer welcomes Koomah of the Houston Intersex Society to discuss and deconstruct misconceptions about the intersex community.…
What is intersex? It’s the ‘I’ in LGBTQIA, but it’s still something that not many folks know about. Intersex is a condition in which individuals are born with reproductive and sexual anatomy that does not fit into the institutionalized “male” or “female” boxes. In honor of Intersex Awareness Day (October 26), we caught up with Alicia Roth Weigel, an “intersexy” “policy, advocacy, and campaign strategist for the progressive movement.”…
For queer people, safe spaces are important. For queer people of color, safe spaces are vital. The Mahogany Project, a Houston-grown nonprofit focused on bridging the gap between empowerment and education in black and brown LGBTQIA communities, aims to create such spaces. The project was founded in April 2017 by Verniss McFarland III, an intersex Houstonian who saw the need to engage and unite the trans community and its allies in response to the high rate of violence against black and…
When Mo Cortez was five years old, he woke up in a hospital bed, peeled back the sheets, and discovered a large red “X” on his groin. Cortez was born intersex—with ambiguous genitalia—and surgery was an attempt to “normalize” him. Instead, it made it him feel dehumanized, he says, “like a Frankenstein.” But despite his many challenges since then, Cortez says he has found truth in his identity, and has used his own experiences as motivation to tirelessly advocate for…
Boundaries will be pushed, identity celebrated, and community built at the second annual Gender Unbound Art Fest in Austin, Texas. This one-day talent showcase of trans and intersex artists, musicians, and performers run by the community for the community is set to take the city on September 2.…
