National LGBTIQ Domestic and Family Violence conference

Morgan Carpenter spoke on intersex wellbeing and health issues at the national LGBTIQ Domestic and Family Violence conference in Sydney last week.

The issues of family and domestic violence raised at the conference are issues for intersex people too, even though they do not include nonconsensual medical intervention on infants and children, which is arguably a form of structural violence within the family. Intersex people are frequently survivors of trauma, and research has shown that intersex people experience rates of trauma "comparable to traumatized women with a history of physical or sexual abuse".

The feedback from the speech was extraordinary:

All of the sessions were excellent, but I was very, very moved by Morgan Carpenter's presentation - I learnt a lot about a subject I previously had no idea about.

...the conference committee have managed a quick look at the feedback forms and overwhelmingly the most popular session was yours. Indeed, many attendees will now go back into their services and start conversations about what true affirmative LGBTI practice might mean.

Providing information on intersex, and on making services intersex inclusive is a key objective of such presentations.

Speaking as a participant, the strong indigenous presence was heartening and the yarning circles enlightening. Thank you to the organisers for an excellent event.

More information

• Another Closet: conference details.
• Another Closet: Intersex people and domestic violence.

OII Australia can offer training and education services in Melbourne and Sydney, and other locations.

• Read about our presentation to a national conference on domestic and family violence, September 2013
• OII Australia's services
• Contact us