INTERSEX RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER’S HEALTH SERVICES JOIN FORCES WITH INTERSEX ACTIVISTS TO EXPAND CARE AND SUPPORT FOR INTERSEX COMMUNITY
VANGUARD | FALL / WINTER 2020
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wo years ago, Seven Graham’s body was failing for no apparent reason. Their ankles had gotten so bad, they thought they would end up unable to walk and in a wheelchair. After six months of pain and fear, Seven came to the Los Angeles LGBT Center for help. “When I came to the Center, I met a wonderful doctor who really looked out for me,” says Seven. “We discovered that my body was rejecting the estrogen replacement therapy that I had been on since I was 12 years old.” At age eight, Seven had been told they had cancerous ovaries, which were then surgically removed, leading to the estrogen therapy that was now failing them. “It turns out that they were actually testes— healthy testes—that they took out of me. I’d been told a lie,” Seven says. “In my 20s I found out that I am intersex. It says female on my birth certificate, and as a child I was forced into the pink box, my
gender was rigidly enforced. I always knew I wasn’t female, but I didn’t have the language for it.” Like many intersex people, Seven had medical trauma from childhood, which meant it was really difficult for them to seek out health care as an adult. With help
from their doctor at the Center, Seven started on new hormone therapy matched with mental health care and support. “Now I’m happier and healthier than I’ve ever been because of the services at
the Center,” says Seven, now 51. “When I discovered that I am intersex, it was a journey to becoming who I am today. I had to work through all of the conditioning and trauma. I now finally look in the mirror and feel happy with who I am: an out queer, intersex, transmasc, nonbinary human being with a big heart and even bigger clitoris. In fact, my clit has grown so much on testosterone, it’s—arguably—a penis now! Which I’m very happy about!” THE “I” IN LGBTQIA+ IS FOR INTERSEX Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to f it the typical def initions of female or male, according to interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, including differences in genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, or chromosomes. It’s estimated that 1.7 percent of babies born are intersex, meaning that
