Intersex Community presents petition to Parliament over anti-LGBTQI+ Bill
Ghana’s legislature has barely reconvened yet a petition against the anti-lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex (LGBTQI) bill from the Intersex Community in Ghana has been tabled before it.
They are lamenting that this bill will deny them of their rights and dignity in Ghana as they face stigmatization, bullying, medical misinformation and non-consensual surgery.
The Intersex community is also sad to reveal how they battle discrimination, stigmatization, violence, harmful practices in medical settings and several other human rights violations which continue to occur around the world for people born with diverse sex characteristics.
Fifty-two countries recently signed a petition to the UN Human Rights Council to protect the rights of intersex people.
“We call on all member states to take measures to combat violence and discrimination against intersex persons, develop policies in close consultations with those affected, ensure accountability, reverse discriminatory laws and provide victims with access to remedy,” said Amb. Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Austria’s permanent UN representative in Geneva, in a statement she read to the council on Monday.
Some portions of their statement continued that “We also call on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and on the Special Procedures of this Council to continue addressing and to scale up action against violence and discrimination based on sex characteristics within their mandates and in their work. States need to take strong and urgent action to uphold their obligation to ensure that intersex people live free from all types of violence and harmful practices, including in medical settings”.
“Irreversible medical interventions (such as genital surgeries, hormonal interventions and medical procedures intended to modify the sex characteristics of infants and children without their full, prior, and informed consent) continue to be the rule — not the exception — in the majority of UN member states.”
Some people are born with external genitals that fall into the typical male/female categories, but their internal organs or hormones don’t.
Recently On October 19, 2021, there was a story making rounds about some twins born with both sex organs and had to drop out of school, “hide in the bush due to stigma” to highlight the reality of the Intersex condition.
They were born in 1993 at a village in Yilo Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region with a rare disorder of sexual differentiation that is; they have both female and male reproductive organs.
Due to the condition of the twins, their parents were thrown into a state of confusion over their gender but upon advice, gave the twins feminine names – Akweley and Akorkor, pierced their ears to wear earrings and wore female attires.
However, as they grow up with their hormones and biological make-up developing, these twins feel and physically appear to be male than females hence opting for a change of gender, names and the dress they wear.
But they faced resistance from both family and teachers. The situation coupled with stigma forced them to drop out of school at class six.
“Our parents say they discovered that we have female and male organs. But we were declared females and were named Akweley and Akorkor. But when we grew up we saw ourselves as males. So we were reluctant to wear female uniforms to school, we insisted they wear us male uniforms but the school authorities too resisted. So we dropped out of school at class 6”.
Akweley and Akorkor have lived with the condition and stigma without any clinical support
The psychological stress, however, didn’t deter them from pursuing their football career. One of the twins had a call up to join the Black Queens of Ghana, under 20 team, however was dropped after his condition was detected by a medical doctor assigned to declare the gender.
“We were very good footballers so we relocated and joined a football club at Sekesua. I got a call up to Black Queens under 20. They called a doctor and the doctor came to the camp and examined us and said I am a male so they dropped me from the squad”.
The twins have since been striving to learn a vocation to make a living, however, they have abandoned that too due to stigmatization.
Unable to bear the stigma of relatives and neighbours they continue to relocate from one village to another to hide and farm for a living.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
