A Historic Journey: Advocating for Intersex Rights at CSW70 in New York

From March 11-23, I had the profound honour of travelling from Australia to New York to participate in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) and Outright International's Advocacy Week. This journey was not just a trip across the globe, but a vital mission to advance intersex rights on the international stage and connect with fellow advocates from around the world.

Arrival and Initial Connections

My journey began on March 11th when I flew out from Australia, crossing the International Date Line to arrive in New York later that same day. The jet lag was quickly forgotten as I prepared for the important work ahead, although I did have a small adventure with airline logistics, as my luggage decided to take its own holiday for four days! This meant I got to wear the same outfit for several days straight, proving that advocacy work can be glamorous in unexpected ways! On March 12th, I had the privilege of meeting the incredible team at Outright International and connecting with advocates and activists from all corners of the globe. The energy in the room was electric with the power of global solidarity in the fight for human rights.

The Bodily Autonomy Panel: A Foundation of Rights

One of the most impactful early experiences was attending the Bodily Autonomy session, which featured a powerful panel including intersex and trans advocate Vidda Guzzo. The discussion centred on how we could ensure that bodily autonomy and dignity are available to all people, regardless of their sex characteristics or gender identity.

Vidda brought crucial perspectives to the conversation, highlighting the challenges faced by people living with intersectionality in Brazil and sharing sobering statistics about the violence faced by trans communities worldwide. Her words were particularly powerful when she stated, "Intersex rights are foundational in establishing the idea of bodily autonomy." Vidda was unequivocal in her call for states to prohibit non-essential surgical interventions, emphasising that these protections are not just medical issues but fundamental human rights.

The panel also addressed how colonisation has created unequal distributions of resources in the Global South, with speakers like Rima from Tunisia speaking eloquently about the lack of gender-affirming care and the urgent need for access to therapy with safe therapists, especially for those in regional areas. Throughout the discussion, there was a strong emphasis on the need for love and solidarity as we work toward these goals.

Vidda's insight about intersex people was particularly striking: "Intersex people represent the threat to the gender binary just by our existence." This statement captures the revolutionary nature of intersex advocacy- we challenge fundamental assumptions people have about bodies simply by living in bodies with difference.

Meeting with Finnish Leadership

Following the panel, I participated in an intersex-specific human rights defenders' meeting with Finland's Minister of Social Security and other members of the Finnish government. Finland has shown significant leadership in international intersex human rights advocacy, particularly through their role at the UN, but still faces challenges in domestic implementation, particularly regarding medical practices on children and comprehensive legal protections.

I was impressed by their genuine interest in intersex issues and their progressive approach. I shared about the progress and challenges in the Australian context, while learning about Finland's thoughtful plans for supporting people with innate variations of sex characteristics. Their commitment to human rights was evident in every question and discussion.

Strategic Meetings with Dr. Anna Cody

I also had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Anna Cody who is the Sex Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, where we discussed numerous critical topics affecting LGBTQI+ communities worldwide:

Tunisia and Malawi expressed gratitude for Australia's ongoing support and recommendations, highlighting the need for protections for human rights defenders and improved conditions for gender diverse people in jails, including access to health services and safe abortion.

Sex workers' rights emerged as a major concern, with discussions about the criminalisation of sex workers in the United States and the discrimination faced by both criminalised and non-criminalised sex workers. Australia was commended for its work on HIV/AIDS and sex workers, with colleagues from the US requesting support for sex workers in recommendations to the United States. There was also discussion about assisting sex workers and trans individuals seeking refugee status, as progress in this area has stalled.

China presented complex challenges, with questions about how Australia could work strategically with the Chinese government on LGBQTI+ rights. Despite the Chinese government's reluctance to engage in human rights conversations, there was a clear need for addressing anti-discrimination and bullying in Chinese schools to ensure they are safe spaces rather than sites for conversion therapy.

Crystal Hendricks spoke about intersex issues, congratulating Australia on the recent Victorian legislation and acknowledging Dr. Morgan Carpenter's design of the intersex flag.

Pacific region concerns about access to promised financial support were raised, while Nigeria spoke urgently about their need for safety and security, with over 60 laws criminalising same-sex practices and an increase in attacks and kidnappings targeting trans people and effeminate gay men. They requested Australia's support for safe housing programs and mediation services.

The US Free Speech Coalition highlighted problems facing people in the adult film industry, particularly regarding access to banking institutions. OnlyFans creators and strippers are being disproportionately impacted, and Australia was recognised as a leader in decriminalising sex work.

Dr. Cody emphasised her commitment to advocating strongly along with the Attorney General's department and DFAT against the UN Women merge and the narrowing definition of gender.

Trans athletes and IOC issues were raised by another participant and so I spoke up about the impacts on intersex athletes as well.

When it was my turn to speak, I thanked Dr Cody for continuing to cultivate the active and ongoing relationship between InterAction for Health and Human Rights and the Australian Human Rights Commission. I also spoke about the success of Victorian legislation, and the critical need to continue momentum with other states in Australia to ensure protections for intersex people. It was great to meet Dr Cody in person rather than a zoom meeting.

Creative Advocacy and Community Building

Friday, March 13th brought more meetings and planning sessions at the Outright International offices, but also two particularly meaningful offsite events: "Liberation looks like a Soft landing" and "Theatre for Advocacy." The latter was especially impactful, and I drew on my theatre qualifications and experience to create a powerful monologue piece that I performed for the group. The combination of art and advocacy proved to be an incredibly effective medium for sharing our stories and struggles.

After a well-deserved rest day on Saturday, Sunday brought both a training session at Outright and the opportunity to visit One Summit Vanderbilt, where we enjoyed an amazing experience of New York's cityscape and skyline.

Building Skills and Taking Leadership

Monday, March 16th was a full day of training, with Kimberly Zieselman leading a session focused on the nature of bilateral meetings and expectations within them.

Outright International's team led the full day of training with great information, strategies for success and oppotunities for role plays.

Armed with this knowledge and confidence, I offered to chair the bilateral meeting with ambassadors from Australia and New Zealand the following day.

On Tuesday, March 17th, the day began with more intersex preparation meetings for the UN event and a feminist intersex meeting. Later in the day, the bilateral meeting with Australia and New Zealand ambassadors went exceptionally well, with all attendees presenting their issues and requests. I spoke about the Victorian legislation and The Missing Voice Report, and both countries agreed to speak with their respective governments about increased funding for psychosocial support. I provided information about the InterLink program and Resource Hub, emphasising the importance of legislative reform. The Australian ambassador agreed to communicate this message to government with the aim of extending it to all state premiers and health ministers.

The Historic UN Event: A Milestone Achieved

The culmination of this incredible journey was the first-ever intersex side event inside the UN Headquarters in New York as part of CSW70, held on Wednesday, March 18th. “From Report to Action: Actionable Pathways for Intersex Rights Beyond the UN” was moderated by Kimberly Zieselman and hosted by UN Women, Australia, Finland, and South Africa.

This historic event featured five intersex human rights defenders:

Crystal Hendricks (ILGA World)
Vidda Guzzo (Intersex Brazil)
Obioma Chukwuike (Intersex Nigeria)
Merel Ritsma (Spread the Word Collective, The Netherlands)
Margie McCumstie (InterAction for Health and Human Rights, Australia)

All speakers spoke passionately and purposefully, ensuring that issues facing people with innate variations of sex characteristics were highlighted and actionable pathways for intersex rights beyond UN reports were explored. The fact that we were able to hold this event inside the UN Headquarters represents a significant milestone for intersex rights advocacy globally.

Margie McCumstie: Representing Australia at the United Nations

Below are the transcript responses Margie gave at the historic event:

Kimberly Zieselman: Please take 1 min each to introduce yourself: Name, Organization, Country, & list the primary 1-2 intersex human rights violations activists are fighting for in your country. 

Margie McCumstie: Good Morning everyone, my name is Margie McCumstie and I’m representing InterAction for Health and Human Rights, Australia’s leading organisation for the protection and advancement of individuals with innate variations of sex characteristics. Australia is a large country with six states and two territories and with the health systems of each state and territory being separate, our fight continues to ensure all intersex children are protected from unnecessary, non- consensual surgeries in all but one state and one territory at this stage. Recognising the great need for psychosocial support in our community, we are also strongly advocating for greater funding to further expand the provision of our pioneering InterLink programs to support children, young people, adults, parents and families who are coming to terms with what it means to live a full and healthy life with an innate variation of sex characteristics.

Kimberly Zieselman: Australia has recently seen successful advocacy around legislation and medical regulation. What progress has been made — and where is accountability still missing when it comes to protecting the bodily autonomy and human rights of intersex women, girls, and NB persons?

Margie McCumstie: Australia has made some excellent progress around legislation and medical regulation after many years of advocacy and education. Australia’s Human Rights Commission produced a report in 2021 that was important in establishing that human rights violations were indeed occurring in Australia and needed to be addressed.

Bioethicist Associate Professor and Executive Director of InterAction- Dr Morgan Carpenter stated that “The only way of maximally respecting the diverse values and preferences of children with intersex variations is to minimise early interventions.”

Following from our advocacy and recommendations, the ACT Parliament passed the Variation in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill in June 2023 establishing legal protections and processes to support people with IVSC to make their own decisions about permanent medical treatments affecting their bodies.

And InterLink founder and InterAction’s Deputy Executive Director Bonnie Hart said it was “cause for celebration for people with intersex variations of all ages and those that care for us. The bill and associated regulations create protective structures that ensure transparency across both public and private healthcare settings and create a model for best practice nationally.”

With a precedent for best practice now in place, the advocacy work continued in other states.

Equality Australia produced The Missing Voice report in 2025 which highlighted the ongoing surgical and medical interventions from recent data and spotlighted the stories of harm from members of the community.

With growing awareness and understanding of the issues and harm of the human rights violations, Victoria was the next state to align and advance human rights for people with IVSC. The Health Safeguards for People Born with Variations in Sex Characteristics Bill 2025 was passed in February this year and as co-chair of InterAction and patron of Equality Australia, Tony Briffa said “we celebrate meaningful progress. I am incredibly proud to see Victoria take this historic step for the next generation. Our bodily differences are a natural part of human diversity. Surgical or hormonal interventions should proceed only where there is clear medical necessity — and where that need outweighs the risk of causing lifelong harm.”

And while we have clearly made progress, accountability is still missing when it comes to protecting the bodily autonomy and human rights of intersex women, girls, and NonBinary persons in our remaining states and territory. There is a missing sense of urgency on the part of politicians and government health officials- they consider potential backlash, they listen to outspoken paediatric surgeons and urologists who are clinging to past practices and they are choosing to not centre the voices of those with lived experience. The delays and the extended consultations come at a cost… the bodily autonomy and integrity of an individual’s right to choose what happens to their body.

We will keep advocating, educating and fighting for these human rights- because we have a sense of urgency and it is time.

Kimberly Zieselman: What does trauma-informed advocacy look like when engaging policymakers on harmful medical practices?  How can training institutions — including medical schools — operationalize the OHCHR recommendations to ensure the human rights of intersex women, girls, and NB persons?

Margie McCumstie: Trauma informed advocacy is important when engaging policymakers because any legislative change MUST be accompanied with psychosocial support provisions- for both the young people coming through and making choices about their bodies and finding their place in the world as an intersex person but also to address the historical medical trauma that many have experienced over the years with human rights violations having been the norm.

The ACT legislation established a dedicated, government‑funded psychosocial support system designed to help intersex children and their families navigate medical, emotional, and social challenges. This support is built into the law as a core safeguard- not an optional add‑on and is meant to ensure families are never left alone to make complex decisions.

Additionally in Australia, our groundbreaking InterLink program provides mental health and wellbeing services to people with innate variations of sex characteristics and their family members located anywhere in Australia. InterLink is about getting safely connected with knowledgeable counsellors, with other people with similar experiences, with peer support, and affirmative services. Supporting individuals and families in understanding options and making choices that are best for them reduces the risks of being subjected to unnecessary surgeries.

The OHCHR has urged states to prohibit medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures on intersex infants and children unless they are life-saving or urgently required for physical health. If training institutions and medical schools consider this, they can educate future doctors and ensure that interventions are delayed until an individual can provide free, prior and informed consent. 

Universities and educational institutions have an opportunity to operationalise the OHCHR recommendations by ensuring healthcare providers are educated on intersex variations and human rights, and to systemise the process of training future lawyers on intersex rights and anti-discrimination laws as well.   

Social workers, psychologists and counsellors must be trained to understand the shame and stigma that many experience and the gender norms and medical misconceptions that prevail.

To build a world of acceptance and understanding where bullying and discrimination are not acceptable, educational institutions need to ensure teachers and early childhood professionals are well informed, safe and welcoming of difference.

School curriculums encompassing sex education should include innate variations of sex characteristics as a natural bodily variation and ensure that young people who are intersex are not made to feel excluded or ostracised by the reality of their lived experiences.  

Changing our world to protect babies and children with innate variations of sex characteristics, changing our world to accept that people exist outside of a rigid gender binary, changing our world to respect bodily integrity and autonomy happens in many ways- by legislating against non-consensual surgeries, by educating and building awareness widely, by establishing intersex informed education policies and practices… but it starts with people understanding the importance of our bodily autonomy, recognising the harms that we have endured and continue to face and for individuals to allow their hearts to be touched by our stories. We need people to care, be compassionate and stand with us for change.

-END TRANSCRIPT-

Advocating for Intersex Children's Rights

Following the UN event, we had an excellent meeting about intersex children's rights with UNICEF. The team at UNICEF were incredibly receptive and open to producing information fact sheet resources. They also committed to helping connect me with UNICEF Australia to further children's intersex advocacy in Australia. This meeting opened up new possibilities for protecting the rights of intersex children both internationally and domestically.

Community and Solidarity

Wednesday night provided a wonderful opportunity for intersex community building as we met for drinks with intersex community members from America who had travelled to New York. These informal gatherings are just as important as the formal meetings, allowing us to share experiences, offer support, and strengthen our global network of intersex advocates.

Continuing the Work

Thursday and Friday brought more meetings, including a bilateral meeting with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP is the leading UN organisation fighting poverty, inequality, and climate change and they have assisted African countries in intersex reform. UNDP has developed comprehensive policy guidance documents specifically for intersex rights, including "Advancing the Health & Human Rights of Intersex Persons in Africa: Policy Guidance" and "Being Intersex in Zambia: A Legal and Policy Review". These documents provide practical recommendations for governments to implement human rights protections for intersex people. UNDP's work has also contributed to Zimbabwe's acceptance of a UN Universal Periodic Review recommendation on protecting intersex human rights.

As the week progressed, we moved from intense advocacy work to reflection and revelation. There were tears and solidarity in equal measure- moments of shared experience that deepened our commitment to the causes we fight for.

Balancing Advocacy with Tourism

Although tired from the demanding schedule, I managed to squeeze in a few tourist activities before flying out on Saturday, March 21st. These experiences provided a wonderful balance to the intense advocacy work and allowed me to absorb the energy of New York City:

Seeing "The Lion King" on Broadway- an unforgettable theatrical experience
Touring Times Square, the bright lights and bustling hub of the city
Exploring Central Park, a peaceful oasis in the urban landscape
Visiting the Russian Tea Rooms, stepping into a piece of New York history
Taking the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty- a powerful symbol of freedom and hope

Returning Home

I arrived home on Monday, March 23rd, tired and exhausted but with a full heart and renewed determination. The journey had been physically demanding but spiritually enriching, leaving me excited to continue my advocacy work back at home with the connections, knowledge, and momentum gained from this extraordinary international experience.

Acknowledgments

This historic journey would not have been possible without the incredible support and belief of many people. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Morgan Carpenter for advocating for and supporting my involvement in this important international advocacy work. His guidance and encouragement were invaluable throughout the process.

Special thanks to Mira Bouchmouny for her exceptional assistance and support with travel arrangements. Her help made navigating international logistics much smoother and allowed me to focus on the important advocacy work at hand.

I also thank every participant of Advocacy Week- your advocacy and activism across the range of LGBQTIA+ issues globally is inspiring. Thank you for sharing your stories, your passion and your determination to improve the lives of others.

I extend my deepest gratitude to the extraordinary team at Outright International for their incredible generosity in assisting with funding and, most importantly, for their unwavering belief in me. The support and vision of the entire team made this journey possible, particularly Executive Director Maria Sjödin and UN Programs Director André du Plessis.

I'd also like to offer special thanks to outright International's Senior Advisor for Global Intersex Rights Kimberly Zieselman for her leadership, mentorship, and the incredible work she does to advance intersex rights globally.

Her guidance was instrumental in making this historic UN event a reality.

On a personal note, it was incredibly special to meet one of my idols in the intersex advocacy world.

Looking Forward

This journey to New York was more than just attending meetings- it was about building connections, sharing strategies, and amplifying the voices of intersex people on the international stage. The relationships formed, the lessons learned, and the momentum gained will undoubtedly strengthen our ongoing advocacy work in Australia and contribute to the global movement for intersex rights.

As we continue to push for legislative reform, increased funding for support services, and greater recognition of intersex people's human rights, the experience of CSW70, participating in the first ever UN side event in New York, and joining in with Outright International's Advocacy Week will serve as both inspiration and foundation for the work ahead.

The fight for intersex rights is a fight for bodily autonomy, for dignity, and for the recognition that human rights are universal- especially for those whose bodies challenge narrow expectations of male and female bodies. We have work to do to improve the health and human rights of intersex people both in Australia and globally. We will continue this work, as together, we are making history.