intersex
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Wha an AWESOME surprise to find my memoir BORN BOTH: AN INTERSEX LIFE, on Harper’s Bazaar UK’s list of “10 memoirs and autobiographies to be inspired by“–alongside Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama, Gkoria Steinem, and others! Huge thanks to Harper’s for reading and including a queer, Latine, intersex, non-binary voice on this list–what an honor! https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/entertainment/g37950787/memoirs-autobiographies/
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Yes, that’s my thumb in the picture–holding the first US X Passport!!! It was issued yesterday to my friend and colleague at IC4E (the Intersex Campaign for Equality) Dana Zzyym. As Lambda Legal, who represented Dana, said in their press release: The Intersex Campaign for Equality and its Founding Director, Hida Viloria, played a critical…
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My latest essay, in OUT, about what the news that Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski may have been intersex says about surgeries aimed to “fix” intersex kids and the military trans ban. I also discuss California’s groundbreaking legislation SB 201, which seeks to ban these surgeries, and how doctors have used false claims to support their arguments…
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Thank you to The Advocate for this fantastic article about the Smithsonian Channel documentary, “Was The General A Woman?”, which reveals that General Casimir Pulaski was intersex! Thank you also for the fantastic interview– it actually managed to get in all my main points about the implications of this fantastic news. (Quotes included here…
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I’m deeply honored to have been asked to participate in the Smithsonian Channel documentary, “The General Was Female?”, which examines years of research which conclude that American hero Casimir Pulaski was intersex! As often happens with interviews–and particularly in this case as the focus of the show was historically, not intersex–the more policy related issues…
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Thanks to Scott Duff and Ellen Miller at OUT Chicago Radio for a fantastic radio interview about the groundbreaking news that General Casimir Pulaski, renowned as the father of the American Cavalry, was intersex. Despite the short time frame we had a chance to discuss the enormous implications this news has on the harm of…
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Happy Intersex Awareness Day 2018 everyone! In my latest oped essay for Logo’s New Now Next, I discuss how we need intersex awareness more than ever with the head of our current administration is trying to roll back the progress we’ve made by writing intersex people out of existence, and how excluding us from the LGBTQIA…
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Big thanks the my old hometown paper, the New York Daily News, for letting me address all the intersex, non-binary, and trans deniers out there who have criticized New York City’s recent birth certificate legislation. I’m so proud to be a part of the third gender revolution and to write about it in the paper…
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I’ve been out longer than I care to divulge –or I guess I should say, “divulge here,” as anyone who’s read my memoir knows exactly how long it’s been since I came out! 🙂 — but so many are still not safe enough to do so. Please help make the world safer for them…
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I couldn’t be happier or prouder about this news today, and to have played a role in it! Having a District Court Judge of the United States — where surgeries aimed at erasing intersex people from society originated, over half a century ago– acknowledge our right to be accurately identified as neither male nor female,…
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Genital Autonomy America (GA America) is an amazing organization which has helped thousands to attain, and continues the fight for all babies and children to attain the right to genital autonomy. I’m honored tobe presenting the keynote address at their 2018 Symposium this year in San Francisco! “What if We Were Free and Whole?…
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Many say Texas is scary, and it has been politically—which is why I can’t wait to speak at Texas State this Friday. Come on down y’all! (tee, hee) 🙂 April 27th, 2018. 12-30–2:30pm, followed by book signing. Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion Texas State University San Marcos, TX 78666 books will be available.)…
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I’m very happy to announce that my memoir Born Both: An Intersex Life (Hachette Books) will be available in German with Zaglossus Books this summer, summer 2018! Zaglossus is a publishing house based in Vienna, Austria, whose mission is to, “publish literature that makes the variety of different ways of life visible. Focusing – but by…
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OMG, my memoir Born Both: An Intersex Life has been nominated for a Lammy–the Lambda Literary Award! Queer non-binary Latinx intersex appreciation??!!!??? Whaaaat? SO excited! 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’m beyond thrilled and happy to have my first book recognized as one of eight finalists in the LGBTQ nonfiction category! It’s perhaps even more…
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The face of intersex activism has often been portrayed as white, but this is far from the truth. As usual, black people have played an influential role in the fight for equality and human rights. Some of you may not be aware that I’m the founding director of an intersex advocacy non-profit, The Intersex Campaign…
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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I love it when I can get a line into an essay–especially a serious one–that makes most people laugh out loud. See if you can find the one in my latest, “The Privilege of Pleasure.” 🙂 Big thanks ILGA-Europe for their amazing advocacy work for LGBTQIA people (and yes, they actually…
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*** FROM THE INTERSEX CAMPAIGN FOR EQUALITY (IC4E) *** 2017 was an incredible year for intersex literature. Born Both: An Intersex Life (Hachette Books), our E.D.’s groundbreaking memoir, was released to feature length, rave reviews in The New Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, and more, and best new book selections by People,…
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“These books by Gay, Riggs, and Viloria tell stories that should be heard, that lift up and give meaning to scientific facts of variable bodies, diseases, and genders — and how we respond to them.” Thanks to Barbara J King and NPR for including Born Both in this review, described below. 🙂 “The pairing of…
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Happy Friday everyone! Haven’t been feeling the blog, but here’s this interview on the awesome Girl Boner.(Okay, HOW perfect is this show’s title for me— whaaaaa???) This is one of my favorite interviews so far. 🙂 Thanks to creator and host, the fabulous August McLaughlin, for having me on and for being so intersex-positive!…
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I’m thrilled to announce that I have a new birth certificate which lists my sex as “intersex”! For those unfamiliar, intersex refers to people born with sexual and/or reproductive anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of male or female. We’ve been around forever but our existence has been hidden for hundreds (if not thousands)…
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In the City of Intersex Angels chapter of my memoir Born Both: An Intersex Life — named after the blissful year I spent living in Venice Beach — I actually mention a job I had in Santa Monica, and I love the I’m having a reading there! Santa Monica Public Library Monday, April 24th, 6pm.…
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Very excited and honored to participate in the panel Self Discovery: The First Frontier, at the LA Times Festival of Books this Saturday! See full schedule here.
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I’m truly grateful to everyone at the Arts & Ideas Series and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco for hosting last night’s event “Between Genders: Exploring Intersex with Hida Viloria”. The event was a conversation between myself and fantastic filmmaker Sam McConnell (The Out List, The Trans List), and I thank all the…
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My latest essay, “Remember: Sex-Positive = Intersex-Positive,” in The Huffington Post, examines the intersectionality of feminism and intersex issues by exploring medical and social views towards clitoral reduction surgeries on intersex baby girls and future women– AND I got to use the word “hermaphrodyke” in it! Enjoy, and please share widely to educate…
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Enormous thanks to Juliet Jacques for this in-depth, beautiful, rave review of my memoir Born Both: An Intersex Life, in the Washington Post:”Overcoming trauma and intolerance as an intersex activist.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/overcoming-trauma-and-intolerance-as-an-intersex-activist/2017/03/24/a586555e-f222-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html?utm_term=.291eff4232ed
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Couldn’t have asked for a lovelier, move moving first reading last night, with my beautiful partner providing ASL interpretation right beside me; very special. Big thanks to proprietor Dorothy Massey, and events manager, Cecile Lipworth, for a fantastic event!
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“Intersex people often have their dual gender surgically ‘corrected,’ but trailblazing activist Viloria didn’t. Her memoir is fierce, brave, and a clarion call to celebrate our differences.” — People Magazine on Born Both: An Intersex Life Thrilled to see that People magazine has selected my recently released memoir Born Both: An Intersex Life…
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Big thanks to Air Talk host Larry Mantle, and everyone at 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio (SCPR)– a member-supported public media network that operates across the region, reaching from Santa Barbara down to Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and out to the Coachella Valley– for a great interview earlier today. Larry’s questions…
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As a kid, I loved and devoured Rolling Stone interviews, and so I can’t say how thrilled I am to find myself interviewed in it! Huge thanks to Rolling tone for seeing the value in my memoir Born Both, and to Larissa Pham for this fantastic interview! Please enjoy and share widely to further…
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Big thanks to The Daily Beast for publishing my latest essay, “Fear of Flying–or at least the TSA–while intersex.” On March 6, I read that the Supreme Court had remanded the case filed by Gavin Grimm—the 17-year-old transgender student who’s fighting to use the same restroom as the other boys at his school—sending it back…
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In conversation with filmmaker Sam McConnell, producer of HBO’s The Out List and The Trans List, at the Jewish Community Center’s “Arts & Ideas” Series, for the event “Between Genders: Exploring Intersex with Hida Viloria.” Please pre-order your tickets if possible here. Friday, April 7th, 7pm, SF JCC. 3200 California Street, San…
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Excited to be presenting a reading of my memoir Born Both: An Intersex Life at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Washington. Friday, March 31, 2017 – 7:00pm http://www.elliottbaybook.com/event/hida-viloria Location: 1521 Tenth Avenue Seattle, WA 98122
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I’ve never had a baby, but this project gestated longer than one, and I’m about to give birth! Please support intersex voices and people in society by pre-ordering a copy today before it hits stores tomorrow. http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hida-viloria/born-both/9780316347846/
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I’m a native New Yorker, and my memoir begins in Brooklyn, so I couldn’t be more pleased and honored to be listed as one of the “Culture Essentials for March“, by the Brooklyn-based arts and culture blog Brooklyn Based. Big thanks to the article’s author Annalise Griffin, and everyone at Brooklyn Based for such a…
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So nice to be writing essays again after a rather long hiatus working on my memoir. Big thanks to The Advocate for running my latest, “Why We Must Dismantle the Intersex Closet.” Please share if you like to help spread awareness and make it easier for your intersex friends and their families to come…
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#BornBoth #intersex #nonbinary #Latinx #HappyHerm #memoir #intersexwriters #LGBTI
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“I wouldn’t be a ‘regular’ woman if you paid me: this is who I want to be.” — Hida on Oprah “I find this so fascinating: you literally walk between worlds.” — Oprah Winfrey on Hida Viloria Sharing my “authentic self”, as Oprah calls it –my intersex, non-binary self which we’re all taught to hide–…
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“You can be accepted however you happen to be! The ‘norm’ is not what you think it is.” — Hanne Gaby Odiele I am SO happy about this! Brava to supermodel Hanne Gaby Odiele for coming out as #intersex! As outlined in USA Today, she did so, like all intersex advocates, to shine a light on…
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I was SO happy to hear the news last week about NYC’s intersex birth certificate—from the fantastic Sara Kelly Keenan, the person who’s been issued the historic certificate– and to share it, and today I’m thrilled to be quoted about the development in People magazine! From the article, “Advocates Say Issuing Nation’s First Intersex Birth Certificate…
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“Intelligent and courageous, the author’s book chronicles one intersex person’s path to wholeness, but it also affirms the right of all intersex and nonbinary people to receive dignity and respect. A relentlessly honest and revealing memoir.” — Kirkus Reviews SO excited and happy about this review!!!! Thanks to Kirkus for reading! Read the full review here.…
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Feeling so grateful for the support I’ve gotten with my memoir Born Both this past year! From all the folk at my publisher Hachette Book Groups, to those who read it and/or reviewed it, to my friends and chosen family, and all the beautiful people that just support intersex people, I want to say thank you…
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Lots of times people don’t remedy situations when unfortunate mistakes are made, but National Geographic magazine did, and I’m so happy about it! In this article, editor-in-chief Susan Goldberg explains why they originally defined being intersex as a “disorder” in their “Gender Revolution” issue, and why they changed the definition–quoting yours truly in the process.…
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Seeing my memoir Born Both available for pre-order on Amazon = one of the most satisfying moments I have ever had. GIGANTIC thanks to all those who believed in me and supported me in creating this work! It’ll be out March 14th. 🙂
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Happy Belated IDAHO-T everyone! Yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia (IDAHO-T), and I was too busy working towards LGBTQIA visibility and equality to post here in time! BIG apologies to all who follow me and my blog for being a bit M.I.A. this past year — it’s hard to finish the…
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I am honored and excited to be presenting my 101 workshop, “Reimagining the Human Species: Intersex People in Society”, and my lecture,” Sex is Complicated: Intersexionality and Intersex Human Rights, Identity and Discourse”, today at Princeton. It’s truly incredible to see how far awareness, and discussions about intersex people’s lives have come, and an honor…
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I talk about the groundbreaking lawsuit for legal recognition of sex as other than just male and female, and SO may other things on UBN Radio’s Ann Walker Show, in LA. Mostly, I think I tap into the spirit of compassion for all beings in this interview more than ever. Hope you enjoy it. 🙂 Hida…
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Wow. I ever thought i’d see the day that intersex people were on the brinkl of being legally recognized by the U.S. gov’t! As if that wasn’t good enough, what an honor that the associate director of the org. I founded and direct, Dana Zzyymm, is the one suing the U.S. State Department, and that…
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It is truly an honor to appear in the short video, What Does It Mean To Be Intersex?, by the UN Free & Equal Campaign for LGBT equality, which they have released in conjunction with their fantastic new Intersex Fact Sheet. https://unfe.org/system/unfe-65-Intersex_Factsheet_ENGLISH.pdf. The video was filmed when I was invited to speak at the…
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My mind has been spinning non-stop this past week, swirling in the aftermath and analysis of hate. We have witnessed so many innocent people being gunned down b/c they are black, and then a rash of hateful, dismissive, and/or devaluing remarks towards a woman, Rachel Dolezar, because she identifies as black. Both incidents…
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Some folks have written to ask why I haven’t had any posts on my blog Intersex and Out for so long, so I thought I’d share the good news with everyone: it’s because I was busy perfecting my memoir proposal so my agent could shop it and sell it to a major publisher! I…
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I am deeply grateful to fantastic allies Professors Joan Pujol Tarrés, PhD, and Marisela Montenegro, PhD, of the Department of Social Psychology (Departament de Psicologia Social) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), and Miguel Misse & Pol Galofre of Barcelona’s Cultura Trans, for sponsoring two fantastic events to bring me to Barcelona! I lectured…
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I gave a Keynote presentation, my first talk in Spanish, on March 23rd at the 10th International Workshop in Science, Technology & Gender (X Workshop Internacional Ciencia, Tecnologia Y Genero: Visiones Y Versiones de las Tecnologias Biomedicas, ) in Madrid, Spain. I’d like to give my DEEP thanks to allies Nuria Gregori Flor, Eulalia Pérez…
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Well, they changed my original title – “Bullying By Any Other Name: What’s Really Behind Regulations for Women with High Testosterone” – to, “Stop Freaking Out About Female Intersex Athletes”, but otherwise I’m thrilled to have this essay run in the Advocate! (Read here: http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/09/18/op-ed-stop-freaking-out-about-female-intersex-athletes). It elaborates on the issue in all the ways…
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Earlier this month, two intersex blog posts about the term “cisgender” reminded me that it’s high time we talk about how current cisgender rhetoric facilitates intersex erasure. But wait, how does it do that? you might be asking. I thought cisgender was the new rage in progressive gender terminology? Well, let me explain. For those…
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I’ll never forget seeing the cover of a 1950’s lesbian novel called The Third Sex. It’d been made into a postcard, and was on sale at one of those touristy gay stores in Manhattan’s West Village. The cover was alarmist, calling homosexuality “society’s greatest curse”, and featuring a picture of two women about to make…
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In 1987, I was outed to my parents by my older brother in a scene straight out of the hysterical queer comedy But I’m a Cheerleader: dad yells, “Why can’t you be more like your sister!” gay son replies, “Guess what? She’s a lesbian!” I hadn’t told my dad because I was afraid he’d stop…
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Today I’ll be talking with fabulous radio personality Sheena Metal — who recently came out as intersex herself — on her show the Sheena Metal Experience!!! Two intersex folks dishing it for two hours on the radio– it’s a first for me & it should be great. 🙂 To listen in, go to: http://tunein.com/radio/The-Sheena-Metal-Experience-p399804/
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Very excited to about this — Vassar students & staff are cutting edge, so this should be a good one! Wednesday, March 26, 5:30-7pm, Rocky 200. Link to PDF of poster >>>
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This was perhaps my most enjoyable media experience ever, b/c I got to do it with some of my favorite American intersex activists. I’m grateful & thrilled that HuffPostLive wanted to do a segment with intersex people about who we are, and that they asked me to direct them to the other guests.…
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Yes, there’s more to say about Germany’s new third gender law, especially to readers that understand the LGBTI perspective and the issues that affect us. Also, I got to correct inaccurate press statements about Australia’s third gender law applying to intersex babies, which it doesn’t, just adults who want it. Read “Germany’s Third Gender…
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Please read my essay Germany’s Third Gender Law: Not What Intersex People Most Need to find out the truth about Germany’s new third gender law. I interviewed several German activists for this piece, and am very happy for the opportunity to get correct information about the law, and why intersex Germans are unhappy…
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Germany’s new third gender law isn’t the law that intersex people most want & need, & isn’t as good for intersex people as most think/have been saying. I got to explain why on the BBC World Service’s one hour program World Have Your Say.
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Germany’s new third gender law becomes effective today, and has been hailed as a groundbreaking advancement for intersex people, but every intersex advocacy organization in Germany is opposed to it. Why? The answer is simple: the new law places intersex babies at risk for increased discrimination. According to the law: PStG § 22 Abs. 3:…
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I’m going to be interviewed on BBC World Services tonight about being intersex in light of Germany’s new third gender law, which becomes effective tomorrow, November 1st. The show, Newsday, starts at 8:30pm PST (calif time), and I should be on approx 9:20pm. Spoiler alert: the law is NOT a good thing for…
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Please help spread awareness by sharing the info in this link with at least one person in your life. 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=644596792238810&set=a.355696581128834.86699.189133101118517&type=1&theater
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I spoke so much in the 90’s and the first decade of the 21st century about the serious harms caused by medically unnecessary cosmetic genital surgeries on intersex babies — which I and other intersex people call “intersex genital mutilation”, or IGM — that my essays in the past few years have focused…
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(FINALLY, a new blog post! 🙂 ) A few weeks ago, I testified as an expert witness on the television show Caso Cerrado (translation: Case Closed). It’s kind of like People’s Court but in Spanish, and is the first television show on a Spanish language station to have been nominated for an Emmy. I was…
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Hi all! So excited to be speaking today — on the historic demise of DOMA (the Defense of marriage Act)– with radio personality and award-winning TV, film and stage actress Ann Walker on The Ann Walker Show on United Broadcast Radio. Tune in from 6-7:30pm (I’ll be coming on around 6:20) at ubnradio.com, Channel…
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I’ve been meaning to write a review of Abigail Tarttelin’s novel Golden Boy, about an intersex teen, since it was released late last month, but a few things got in the way: 1. I find writing reviews kind of weird. 2. It’s even weirder when my review is meant to provide an insider opinion —…
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The LGBTQI Pride Parade was today in Los Angeles, and instead of riding with the Dykes on Bikes, or watching with friends and then going to Booby Trap, the queer women’s pool party, I found myself blissfully biking down to the beach, then along the beach… then texting cancellations. Basically, I’m more into chill activities…
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[Note: In honor of LGBTQI Pride month, this post’s title is a riff on the old Queer Nation slogan, “We’re Here! We’re Queer! Get used to it!” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer_Nation.] There’s a line in Golden Boy, the excellent, recently released novel featuring a 16 year-old intersex protagonist, where he says that you have to choose one or the other,…
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Just read the novel Golden Boy, by Abigail Tarttelin, about a 16 year-old intersex boy. The full review’s coming up separately, but I want to quickly say that I found it hard to put down, and that it didn’t– unlike lots of stuff written by non-intersex people about intersex people – offend me or, imho,…
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“Hida Viloria, cheerleading for choice” — definitely the silliest way my activism has ever been described, lol, but essentially true & otherwise the interview was great. It was regarding the groundbreaking lawsuit by the Crawford family for their intersex son, who was castrated at the age of 16 months, before they adopted him. The lawsuit…
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I am touched and excited to announce my new free resource for parents of intersex newborns: Your Beautiful Child: Information for Parents. It is available in two versions: — Your Beautiful Child Tri-fold Brochure — Your Beautiful Child One-Sheet Version This project was a labor of love, inspired by the many mothers who have asked…
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Last week, before my okcupid-induced outing, I realized I was going to have to come out again, but not in the usual way. I’d found my date in a “girls who like girls” online search, so I obviously didn’t need to come to her as queer. But if I wanted to be able to…
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Last week, Steven Colbert made fun of Republicans who complained that hurricane Sandy was “good luck” for Obama, imitating their annoyance with, “’…Sandy? What kind of a name is that? Are you a dude storm or a lady storm?’” Yes folks, Steven Colbert is hip to intersex humor (intersex people, fyi, are born with sex…
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A friend of mine recently relayed that she told some friends about my intersex activism, and me, and they said, “She’s just doing that for attention, that doesn’t exist.” Yes, intersex is to today’s two-sex system what the idea of the world being round was to the dominant earth-is-flat view: something most people couldn’t imagine–…
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Lecture on Intersexuality Friday, October 12, 2012 12pm – 1:30pm Storrs Campus Rainbow Center @ UConn, Student Union 403 Admission Fee: Free and open to all The Rainbow Center is pleased to host Hida Viloria, an expert educator on the topic of intersex, which is rarely talked about in society, let alone campus communities.…
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In in the wake of the gender-testing of South African track star Caster Semenya, I’ll be discussing international sporting bodies’ regulations for intersex women athletes, and I how I believe they are discriminatory against women who do not adhere to visible gender norms. Joining me will be the fantastic Curtis Hinkle, founder of the…
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