Funding spotlight: Supporting intersex-led action in Australia

** Note: This event will now be held online only **

Join Rainbow Giving Australia, InterAction for Health and Human Rights, and the Snow Foundation for a powerful conversation about one of the most overlooked, misunderstood and underfunded areas of health and human rights in Australia today: the intersex movement.

People with innate variations of sex characteristics—also known as intersex variations or differences of sex development—face unique barriers to health, autonomy, safety, and recognition. 

Despite achieving major advocacy milestones—from helping pass world-leading legislation in the ACT* to shaping a historic United Nations resolution—intersex community controlled organisations remain the least funded across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. A global study found that just 0.14% of all LGBTI human rights funding went to intersex issues, equating to only $40,000 globally at the time of reporting**. Life-saving peer and psychosocial supports, like InterLink, face uncertainty beyond June 2025. Non-essential medical interventions on infants and children with innate variations of sex characteristics continue in most Australian jurisdictions, preempting the ability of individuals to personally consent . And misinformation is fuelling discrimination and policy inaction.

Key details: 

Date: Thursday 15 May

Time: 5.30 -6.30pm

Online only (zoom link will be distributed in advance)

Who: Anyone interested in supporting intersex-led change in Australia

This event will:

• Spotlight the important role of intersex community-controlled organisations and the outcomes they’re achieving
• Explore how funding intersex justice is connected to broader funding goals, including bodily autonomy, healthcare access, refugee safety, and human rights
• Provide the opportunity to learn from leaders of intersex community controlled organisations and funders working in this space
• Share practical ways funders and supporters can engage in long-overdue action and fund lasting, community-led change.

Speakers include: 

• Bonnie Hart, Deputy Executive Director, InterAction for Health and Human Rights and Creator and Manager of InterLink
• Dr Morgan Carpenter, Executive Director,, InterAction for Health and Human Rights; co-founder of Intersex Human Rights Australia; Associate Professor, Sydney Health Ethics, University of Sydney School of Public Health 
• Margie McCumstie, Training & Communications Officer, InterAction for Health and Human Rights and manager of YellowTick
• Siri May, Program Director, SOGIE Program, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (via video) 
• Mauro Cabral Grinspan, Principal Consultant, InterAction for Health and Human Rights; former Research Consultant, Global Philanthropy Project (via teleconference)

About the organisations

Rainbow Giving Australia is a national LGBTQIA+ community foundation, formed in 2024 from the merger of GiveOUT and Aurora. We exist to address the chronic underfunding of the LGBTQIA+ non-profit sector, by mobilising funding and investing in community-led solutions to the most pressing challenges. Our flagship programs include GiveOUT Day, Aurora Ball, Sweat with Pride and national community grants program (of which InterAction is a grantee partner). 

InterAction for Health and Human Rights is the leading national body by and for people with innate variations of sex characteristics. It is formed from the merger in 2024/5 of Intersex Peer Support Australia into Intersex Human Rights Australia. InterAction engages in world-leading policy and advocacy work, and delivers professional and peer-led psychosocial support programs. Our key programs include the InterLink psychosocial support service, Intersex Peer Support Australia, Intersex Depathologisation Project, and a forthcoming Yellow Tick e-learning program.

* Carpenter, Morgan. 2023. ‘Protecting Intersex People from Harmful Practices in Medical Settings: A New Benchmark in the Australian Capital Territory’. Australian Journal of Human Rights 29 (2): 409–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2023.2247863 

** GATE & American Jewish World Service. (2013). The State of Trans* and Intersex Organizing. Accessed via https://interaction.org.au/24333/funding-for-intersex-human-rights-and-community-development-work/